Trust Me
by The Amazing Fetus
Summary: Sebastian is a homeless seminary school drop out and looking for a job as a live-in butler to a rich investment banker in New York City. Ciel is his son and interviewing Sebastian for the job. Can I make it any more obvious? Alternate universe but not out of character. Contains idealogically offensive content intended for mature audiences.
1. trust me

_**Short summary**: Sebastian is homeless and looking for a job as a live-in butler. Ciel is the son of an investment banker and interviewing him for the job. Can I make it any more obvious?_

_**Long summary:** After the dual suicide of their maid Anne and Rachel Phantomhive, Vincent Phantomhive is looking for help. Sebastian is desperate for a place to live, and is just the man he needs for the job. But will the strange behavior of the Phantomhive family be enough to push Sebastian away before it's too late for him to leave?_

_**List of trigger warnings:** murder, mentions of pedophilia, recreational drug use, torture, blood play, sexual slavery, dubcon, genderbending, religious blasphemy, y'know, totally inoffensive kiddie shit. This might change in the future but if you're triggered by these things... this REALLY is not something you want to be reading further than a few chapters in. Because I don't pussy foot around with trigger warnings, or detail either. No out of character, though! Aren't you happy?_

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_You're a tough little tadpole to love  
Naughty lilies and lures  
Oh, I was knocked to the floor  
Never tasted as sweet  
A poison as you have  
You're an urge that can never be cured  
You're a bad little love  
And I'm yours_

_So trust me, trust me_  
_Darling dear_  
_I'm so sincere_  
_There's no need to tear_  
_Trust me, trust me_  
_Honeydew_  
_Just like I trust you_

_Babe, you're a hard game to catch_  
_You fight and refuse_  
_Oh, you're wild little bruise_  
_Never tasted as sweet_  
_A poison as you have_  
_You know you never can hide_  
_You're a bad little love_  
_And your mine_

_So trust me, trust me_  
_Darling dear_  
_I'm so sincere_  
_There's no need to tear_  
_Trust me, trust me_  
_Darling, do . . ._  
_Just like I trust you_

_So don't cry, crybaby_  
_All dressed in green_  
_How many kisses do you need?_  
_One for your tummy_  
_One for your cheek_  
_One for the devil inside . . ._  
_Of . . . me_

_"Trust Me" The Devil's Carnival  
Sung by Marc Senter_

Agni worked at the cash register of his small hole-in-the-wall curry shop in the east village. It was a two-man operation, with Agni cooking the curry, and his spouse Soma working the register. Yet, Soma was sick to day and so it became a job for Agni and the homeless vagrant that he was letting live with him. Well, he wasn't just a homeless vagrant, because he certainly didn't look like the kind of man you'd expect to end up homeless. He had spent his last five dollars on a bowl of curry. Poor man got kicked out of seminary school- he was a doctorate in theology for goodness sakes. Agni remembered seeing him in the newspaper eleven years ago, declared a hero for saving children from the wreckage of ground zero. Yet here he was- disgraced, homeless, and living in the storage room. Not a cent to his name, not a shred of credibility to his name. Not a single church would hire him. Not a single school would would hire him. Nobody would help him, even though he was more than prepared to give his life for the others. So Agni and Soma stepped in, they had money and space to spare and if Sebastian didn't mind working part time then they wouldn't complain.

"I'm taking off to my interview." Sebastian said.

"I wish you the best." Agni told him. He was concerned, to say the least.

"You're so much more optimistic than I am. I'm hoping they'll hear the name Michaelis without slamming the door in my face." Sebastian sighed.

"Relax. You are a hard worker. You can use me as a reference if they as ask. You know I have nothing but good things to say about you. Now go impress them."

Sebastian got on the subway, heading towards Park Avenue. He took out a sample of an expensive perfume he nabbed from macy's and sprayed it all over himself. He smelled like wall street douchebag, but that was preferable to smelling like homelessness and desperation. His black suit was freshly dry cleaned, thank goodness for Agni's hospitality. He wondered if it was too formal, but at the same time, it was better to impress. He had his resume in a folder. Doctorate in christian studies at Columbia university. Spent a year off from college helping cleaning up ground zero with a charity organization. Spent two years after high school working in Ethiopia. Just barely finished his time at seminary school... and then he was pawning off all things for rent. Then he was living in a room at a small shop and working there for rent because he got evicted and nobody would hire him.

He had applied for over one hundred times, but they'd seen it all. Sex scandal without the sex. A dozen people babbling to the press, 'oh it was so obvious, we don't now how he got in here'. A dozen of back-stabbing Brutuses, and a nonexistent, malevolent god who just let that happen to him. Sebastian? A starring pupil! Head of the class when it came to godliness! Born with a set of malfunctioning hormones that betrayed him. Still the answer was always the same- they didn't want someone working for him with a poor reputation. Not in the nonprofit sector. Absolutely not in the field of education. (Don't trust him near children, they said.) He couldn't even get hired as a cashier because he had no retail experience. He couldn't get hired as anything, not even with seven years of college and top of the class grades- because a reformed atheist with a degree in christian science was useless. Banned from any job opportunities he might have, with no money to go back to school, with no experience to get a job, becoming homeless was an unsurprising conclusion to the sob story Broadway musical that was the life and times of Sebastian Michaelis.

He had seen the listing on craigslist. It seemed to good from the listing, he expected to open it up and find someone's shoddily taken self timer nude pictures. 'Seeking live-in maid or butler for large home on Park Avenue.' There it was. 'Looking for a hardworking man who does not mind cleaning a large building. No experience required. Must be trustworthy and have a reference. Please enquired by email or by phone. All interviews to be conducted in person. -Vincent Phantomhive' Sebastian had called and set up an interview for now. It was a legitimate offer. Now, there wasn't such a thing as heaven, but Sebastian had still believed in it, it would have been a calling sent from it. He sighed at stared down at his resume, did he even need this to clean a house. How unqualified was he, really? Truly he thought, if you didn't even need to speak english to clean a house, how pathetic just was he that he'd probably get turned down at this job as well. When he stepped out side of the subway, his phone rang.

"Sorry for the late notice, but this is Vincent calling about your interview today."

"Yes sir?" Sebastian asked, putting on his polite voice.

"Well, I've found myself being called in at an emergency meeting with my lawyer today, so my son Ciel will be interviewing you in my place. He's only fifteen but please treat him as kindly as you would treat me, he's a good judge of character and smart as whip, so it'll do you no good to try and outsmart him." Phantomhive warned him.

"I would never think of being dishonest with either of you." Sebastian said, his tone as reassuring as he could make it. Theater camp- bless that shit.

"Good to hear it." Vincent said, then hung up.

Sebastian stuffed the phone back in his pocket and cheered to himself. A fucking teenager was conducting his interview? What a joke this was! He had to laugh at himself, to alleviate his disbelief and his depression. Was this serious? Why was he even getting his hopes up? Would he step into the office, seeing a pimple-faced teenager trying to look cool with a cigarette tucked behind his ear and the waistline of his pants hanging far below his asscrack. The idea was preposterous, and yet, he did nothing to heed Phantomhive's warning. He'd be reading his father's questions off an index card with his voice cracking like ice in lukewarm water. To top off this ridiculousness sundae- the kid's name was Ciel! What kind of name even is that? Sebastian couldn't believe it.

Sebastian knocked on the door of the house, 666 Park Avenue. The building, obviously was brick and decorated with some gothic looking gargoyles. The door itself was a heavy wooden one, with a large ornate door knob and lock. If owning a house in new york city was a sign of being rich, then the exterior of it was a sign of being extraordinarily rich, probably some old wealthy family living off generations of accumulated wealth. They probably ate snacks more expensive than his jacket, and washed it down with wine more expensive than a year's worth of Sebastian's rent. The door's lock made a loud sound before it creaked open. For being rich, they couldn't oil the damn door.

"I assume you're the guy with the interview." the boy asked. He had grey hair, blue eyes and wore en eye patch. He was not your typical white teenager with a backwards baseball cap and a fake 'thug style' attitude. In fact, he looked like he listened to Emilie Autumn and cut himself to her violin solos and soliloquies about how evil Billy Corgan is. He wore a ruffled long sleeved shirt, a cravat, and tight pants tucked into baroque looking thigh high boots- with a top hat. Sebastian might have considered his suit overdressed, but at least he wasn't wearing a period costume.

"Sebastian Michaelis." He said, holding out his hand, but Ciel didn't shake it.

"Fuck, your perfume is awful. What is it, some women's shit?" he had a pronounced british accent and a filthy tongue. What a spoiled child, like he was raised in cotton or something, Sebastian assumed.

"The label said it was unisex."

"Well, it lied to you. Let's get this over with." Ciel sighed. He led Sebastian up to the office. The interior of the house was ritzy and old school. It decorated like an 1800's gentleman's club with velvet furniture, burgundy wall paper- gold accents. Probably bought it at some millionaire auction. Sebastian doubted it was a replica or reproduction.

"Don't bother sitting down." Ciel instructed him. He sat behind the antique hard wood desk in the office, which had no windows but rather a large painting that looked like an original.

"Sebastian Michaelis." Ciel said.

"Yes."

"That was rhetorical, you uncultured fuck."

"Excuse me-"

"Also rhetorical, do you ever shut up?" Ciel said. This was probably more rhetorical statements. The question mark, non-withstanding.

"I have my resume here." Sebastian said. Ciel scoffed in his general direction.

"I don't care what you have. I did my own research. Do you think that I would let you hand me information? Do you know how many swindling liars come here every day trying to rip off my father off? More than I'd like to count, but I assure you the number is astronomical! Like I'd ever be dumb to believe a damn thing you, of all people, would have to say. Do you think that I am incapable of looking for you on the internet?" Ciel asked.

"That was not rhetorical. Answer me, if you're so inclined to chatter on!" Ciel spat out at him. Sebastian was becoming well, shocked. He hadn't been treated so poorly in so long. He had grown soft in the presence of Agni's never-questioning benefit of the doubt.

"No, I do not believe that you are incapable of using the internet."

"Then humor me. Tell me some information I might find out."

"That I am a doctorate from Columbia university, that I've volunteered my time to the needy." Sebastian said.

"False!" Ciel shouted.

"Sex scandal in the church by Professor Sebastian Michaelis. Former hero expelled from seminary school. Former teacher now discredited." Ciel shuffled through pieces of paper, reading off each one, not bothering to look up at Sebastian's shocked and offended expression.

"Care to explain to me why you would be applying for this job? Working as a housekeeper for a rich investment banker- oh, and more importantly, working for a rich investment banker with a chronically ill son? What a coincidence that a man, studying to be a catholic priest, associated and deeply devoted to the catholic church, the same church that has been accused time and time again for overlooking sexual abuse done by priests- would be looking to live in the same home as a frail and weak minor! When they kicked you out because they deemed you a risk, goodness! Whats the next closest way that you can get near some susceptible children to rape? Hmm... well I'd say here would be quite convenient for a pedophile, now wouldn't it, Dr. Michaelis?" Ciel asked.

"I have never in my life raped a single person! So what if I wasn't completely celibate through my life? Nobody ever is. So what if I had sex with a guy on prom night? I was seventeen, drunk and I haven't touch anyone, male female, young or not- since then. Your accusations are disgusting."

"If my accusations are more disgusting, then explain to me why these articles even exist." Ciel said, "Go on, Michaelis, I'll humor your horseshit. All's there is on television is reruns. I could use a real life laugh for once."

"First of all- my sex life is barren wasteland and has been for over a decade. Those accusations are greatly exaggerated claims. I came out of the closet as being a homosexual. That is all I am. I am not a pedophile, I am not sexually active or interested in children and never plan to be. I just happened to protest for equal marriage rights. I wanted to be a priest. I wanted to help people. I have helped people, and if I could help people like me who wish to get married- I'd marry every last gay couple in this city. I don't care what the conservative agenda thinks of it. I do not care what the bloggers think of it. I, most importantly of all, do not, and never will, give a flying fuck what your entitled, self-righteous and spoiled arse thinks of it. You're a dumb fucking kid and if you were in the wreckage of a burning building, I would have let you died." Sebastian said before he walked out of the office and out of the house with tears in his eyes.

Today? Worst day since he'd been asked to leave on account of his 'unfortunate condition'. Sebastian cried his way to the subway station, then on the ride home, which made everyone stare at him. A grown ass man sobbing to himself about his own failure to thrive on the subway? Well, it's no wonder why! Surely, if there had been any doubt in New York City as to whether or not Sebastian was a washed-out, burnt-out failure; he had erased them. Now there were no doubts, no questions. He was a massive failur,e he had no skills, no potential, and he might as well throw in the towel, because really, he couldn't even get a job as a house keeper. An illiterate fuck could get that job, but Sebastian Michaelis? Nope, nope, nope. He was such a godforsaken failure. Even a kid so dumb he couldn't dress himself without looking like the mary sue self-insert protagonist of a shitty vampire chronicles fanfic knew it.

"It's okay, I know you're doing your best." Agni said, hugging Sebastian.

"I wish I could believe that." Sebastian cried. "What have I done to deserve this?"

"Nothing at all." Agni assured him. He didn't want his friend to feel like this. He knew Sebastian was a good man, he believed in him. He just wanted to think that as well, he didn't deserve to be stuck like this, he didn't deserve to be treated so poorly. Here he was- and even though it seemed almost cruel to say, Agni knew things were going to get better, he just had that feeling. Sebastian's phone rang. Agni took it out of his pocket and answered it for him.

"Hello? May I ask who is calling?" Agni asked.

"This is Vincent Phantomhive, is Sebastian there?" he asked. Agni looked at Sebastian, still crying.

"He's in the kitchen, please let me get him quickly." Agni said, setting the phone microphone down on the counter. He gave Sebastian a tissue and a glass of water.

"Pull yourself together, Phantomhive's on the phone." Agni said. Sebastian blew his nose, dabbed the tears out of his eyes and cleared his throat before answering the phone.

"Yes sir?" Sebastian asked. He sounded so calm and collected, but he didn't have to face Phantomhive to know that the only thing in store for him was probably more verbal abuse in a british accent.

"My son said that you really impressed him during your interview. Goodness, he's been badmouthing everyone he's interviewed today, except you. He spoke very kindly of you, actually. So that is enough for me to hire you. Where are you located, might I ask?" Vincent asked him.

"I am currently in the east village."

"Oh, excellent! If it wouldn't be much of a bother, do you might starting tonight?" Vincent asked.

"Not at all." Sebastian said. He was trying to suppress himself from crying for the joy. The previous verbal annihilation of his self worth from Ciel 'Marquis DeSade' Phantomhive was erased from his mind.

"Do you need moving assistance?"

"I don't have many things. I only need a suitcase." Sebastian said. Suitcase, he could probably stuff all his possessions in a backpack. Fuck that, he could fit everything he owned in his pocket.

"Glad to hear to hear it. I'll see you later than, Dr. Michaelis." Vincent said.

"Agni, I have no idea how.. but I got the job." Sebastian told him.

"I told you, you have nothing to worry about!" Agni cheered as embraced Sebastian in a hug. They smiled together.

"Thank you so much for being my best friend. I really don't deserve you." Sebastian told him.

Sebastian had his shabby looking black backpack and his things laid out in front of him. Two pairs of black super skinny jeans. One three piece black suit. Two black collared shirts. One gray and white striped tank top. Two tshirts. One burner cell phone. One laptop and charger. This all fit insie of one backpack with room to spare. Moving assistance? Maybe for someone who had let's say, someone who actually had money, but Sebastian's wallet had been empty for so long he pawned it off for a couple of dollars down the street. He'd like to think that this renewed his faith- but it did not. He was not blessed, he was just lucky, or maybe Ciel just wanted to abuse him some more. Sebastian didn't care. A bed to sleep in. Maybe some income. A stable roof over his head. For this, he'd gladly take a couple insults and accusations of pedophilia thrown at him. Hell, for this he'd even let the little fucker slap him. This was preferable to homelessness.

Sebastian was two days away from whoring himself out. In the personals section- _For sale: one priest, fucked once. Eager to please. Anal okay. _Nope! That was not going to happen. No prostituting himself out today, motherfucker. If he had to take some goth teenager's angry hormonal bullshit to keep himself from working the streets, then he'd call that a win and take it. Agni accompanied him to the ritzy digs on park avenue. Before they knocked on the door, Agni placed his hands on Sebastian's shoulders, looking at him with his concerned expression that reminded Sebastian of his mother, Sam.

"Are you sure you're going to be safe here?" Agni asked.

"I'll be fine. He's a bitchy teenager who swears a lot. What is he going to do? Angst me to death?"

"If you don't call m and visit I am going to be so sad." Agni guilted him.

"Okay moooom." Sebastian drawled out. He knocked on the door. The door opened immediately, the lock hadn't been locked this time.

"Hello Michaelis!" Vincent greeted him. He had the same premature grey hair that Sebastian thought Ciel dyed his hair. Still, he looked very young, almost too young to have a teenaged son. Looking at Vincent suddenly made Sebastian very much aware of the fact that he was starting to age, Sebastian would go far enough to say Vincent almost looked younger than him. He dressed in a well tailored suit. Agni waved at him.

"See you later Sebs!" Agni said, walking down the sidewalk.

"Hello Sebastian." Ciel greeted him with a smile. That two-faced little fuck. Sebastian supposed that he should thank him for the job, despite his horrible abuse. If Ciel liked him in the interview, he can't imagine how much more worse the other applicants got it.

"Thank you for recommending for the job." Sebastian said.

When Vincent was turned, Ciel gave him this smile. He didn't need to say anything to Sebastian. That sarcastic, icy sneer only said one thing and that was: 'I'm not done with you'. Sebastian smiled back at Ciel. I don't care what you think of me you little prick, Sebastian thought to himself. Bring it. Vincent led him upstairs, Sebastian took the time to admire the obviously expensive crystal chandeliers, then wonder how he'd even begin to clean them. Or even why, the entire house was immaculate. Clearly the last person who worked here had only quit recently. Whatever, it was time for the Tour de Chateau Phantomhive. Sebastian was going to be the best damn butler that ever butlered and he didn't care if he just verb-adjective-nouned, or that Ciel was a little prick, he was not going to fail at this.


	2. inane distractions

Currently updates for this will go along with my fanproject/doujinfic/fancomfic, "Phobia", but phobia takes more precedence because even though nobody except my friends who pity-read it, it does take a little bit more time to illustrate+write at the same time and I kind of like that story better. Not that I'm not proud or working hard on this story, it's just that phobia is a lot more creative in terms of plot structure and form.

I have also added a cover for this, like a nice one that I am actually proud of drawing but it was way too dirty for post here and way too dirty to post anywhere else because my family follows me on other websites. So you get this shitty one! It's... slightly better to look at than my cat? Maybe. Enjoy this chapter anyways! There's some more plot build up and back story and maybe some references to my other fanfics just because. ヽ(´▽`)/

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The Phantomhive household was much, much larger on the inside than it was on he outside. It was surely meant to hold at least an entire family, if not three. With only three people in it, it seemed like a bunch of wasted space. That Sebastian noted, would have been better rationed to the needy. Though to be fair, Sebastian definitely fell under the category of 'needy' in more ways than one. He noted how expensive most of the things in it looked. Original paintings, most probably at least a hundred years ago. Crystal chandeliers. A wine rack stocked with decades rare wines sitting around just for decoration. This was when Sebastian knew he had spent way too much of his life around the poor, and how little he really knew about how 'the other half' lived. This was just too much of a culture shock for him to handle. His mind went through the numbers, though he'd never been good at math, billionaire was close enough to his estimates.

"You look tired." Vincent commented.

"Oh no, I'm perfectly fine. What would like me to do first?" Sebastian lied. He was tired, but it would be unbecoming to do nothing, and it would certainly break his goal of being the best butler. The best butler doesn't fall asleep on the first day of work.

"Well, I'd like you get some sleep so you don't black out in the middle of my hall way."

"Do you need me to fill out any paperwork?" Sebastian asked.

"Not at all. I don't think that you'll be quitting on me unexpectedly. I assure that even though my house is a bit large, our last maid, Anne had no problem with it. Do you have any dietary needs? I'm sure that you'll need some sort of food."

"I am a vegetarian." Sebastian admitted, though since he'd been homeless, he'd taken anything, but in a less terrible universe, he was against eating anything that could feel pain.

"But plants are capable of responding negatively to pain stimulus, you know. Someone did this study, very interesting. That some scientists took turns assaulting a plant and the growth of plants around it were severely stunted." Vincent told him.

"I'll find myself unrepentant towards them." Sebastian said.

"Interesting choice of words. Ciel told me that you wanted to be a priest." Vincent said, picking out even the slightest word choice.

"I don't believe that the church is a good working environment for me." Sebastian told him. Just what of their little 'interview' did Ciel tell him about? Clearly, Ciel fudged the truth in order to make Sebastian favorable, but really, what details did leave out? Did he just casually not bother to mention that Sebastian insulted him to his face?

"I've never been fond of the whole catholic church, either. I'm fine with it if you want to hang a cross in your room or to go church on sundays, but we're a godless household." Vincent informed Sebastian.

"Please don't concern yourself, sir. I've completely abandoned god." Sebastian told him. He would not be stepping anywhere near a church. Even if he wanted to, he'd probably just get kicked out.

"Then you'll fit right in here." Vincent laughed. Sebastian didn't get the joke. That was fine with him.

"Well aside from the tour and your choice not to eat animal flesh, you'll just have to do basic chores. Clean the house, which is mostly dusting since we don't use it half the time. Ciel does his classwork through the internet and keeps strange hours. Just leave him be, he's usually a little grumpy all of the time. He has guests over some time, just leave them alone because they're insufferable teenagers. You'll have a weekly allowance of one hundred dollars. If you need anything, just write it down on the blackboard in the kitchen and I'll have someone pick it up. Our wifi password is on the refrigerator." Vincent told him.

"Don't worry about it, I will be silent like a mouse. You won't even notice that I'm here." Sebastian said. He fell back against the wall, Vincent held onto his arm and pulled him up. He felt really,

"You should probably get to sleep. I'm sure the dust mites in the library can wait until morning." Vincent said, patting Sebastian on the shoulder.

"Thank you." Sebastian said, walking to the bedroom.

The inside of his room wasn't any less decadent than the rest of the house. He bed was a queen size with a red and gold damask silk comforter. It had a canopy and curtains made of red velvet with tassels, and this was just friggin' guest bedroom. Sebastian pondered on Vincent's bedroom, and he figured that was probably something right out of petit trianon. He figured that he would end up cleaning it one of these days though he was confused by exactly what he was supposed to do. Vincent mentioned library- that was close enough. Though Sebastian couldn't tell if he meant that he had an actual library, which was a thing he had only heard of in movies, or if he called the large book collection he had in his office a library. Something like that. He could ask about that later. The bed in the guest bedroom was really nice, or maybe it wasn't. Maybe Vincent put shitty mattresses in the guest rooms, but compared to a hardwood floor, this might as well have been a billion dollar mattress stuffed with the feathers of baby penguins and sewn together with the hair of virgins. Sebastian did not concern himself with unpacking the content of his backpack, and fell asleep in his shirt and pants.

"I really hate this." Ciel said. "Gave him a glowing review?"

"Come now, you knew I was taping those interviews. I'm impressed that this guy actually had the fortitude to fight you back. Plus, he's _really _handsome." Vincent told Ciel. He waggled his eyebrows at the last comment. Vincent had (_really _wanted) to give it to Sebastian. It was probably for the best that Sebastian never took his priestly vows. Taking his fine ass off the market would have been a crime to humanity. It wouldn't be entirely out of the picture to say that Vincent had other interests invested in him, really, Vincent saw Sebastian turn around before. It was glorious.

"He's irritating. He's a catholic. He wears womens' perfume." Ciel complained. All valid points as to why Sebastian was a complete prick and why Vincent should not have just let him walk into their home and actually live with them.

"You two could get a real hate filled fling going on, couldn't you?" Vincent joked around.

"Do not even start with that. The man is a criminal, as far as I'm aware I am at a serious risk here." Ciel said as he crossed his arms.

"Oh please, you only printed out those articles because you wanted to to antagonize him. I know you better than anyone else. You might be fooling Sebastian, but you can't get anything by me." Vincent said. Ciel huffed and glared in his father's general direction. He was really going to do his best to make his life difficult, wasn't he?

"If he quits I will hire the most irritating soccer mom in this city to be your nanny." Vincent threatened Ciel, who scowled in reply. Vincent would fucking do it, he really would. Ciel would be there all day with Nanny McPhee straight out of Minnesota with a grating midwestern accent offering him lutefisk.

"Fine. I will be civil with Sebastian just so you can gander at his holier-than-thou arse." Ciel spat out. He wasn't really going to be nice, or even civil for that matter toward Sebastian. He just said that to get Vincent off his back. So what, really, a lot of teenagers did this. Totally normal behavior. Ciel left the office, with his silly tulle bustle trailing behind him.

Sebastian woke up to the sound of his cellphone ringing next to him. He had missed the call, and checking his phone he noticed hat had missed fourteen calls. He checked- all of them were from Agni, probably worried out of his mind like he always was. Sebastian sighed and smiled to himself, he was so lucky to have a friend like Agni who always worried about him, even if he was in a safe place. Either way, it was ten o' clock already and Sebastian was not sure when he was supposed to start working but assumed that now was probably late. Fuck. He skipped calling back Agni and headed himself downstairs to the kitchen. He looked around, but did not see either Vincent or Ciel. Unlike Sebastian, they were probably already up and have left home, because they were not lazy failures. So Sebastian figured, he already fucked up today. Fantastic.

He kept himself busy for two hours in the library. The library was a testament to how absurdly large their house was for being right in the middle of a city that would logically be unable to have a house this large for a single family, much less two people. Sebastian counted off he books as he dusted them, four thousand, five hundred, and twenty-three. Who even needs this many books? You'd have to be immortal just to have enough time to read half of them. Sebastian didn't even know that he would ever need to count a number that high in his mind; but the rhythmic counting did help ease his anxiety because he couldn't afford all the xanax that he probably needed at this point. Nobody was in there watching him, so Sebastian reclined against the solid wood bookshelves and stared up at the crystal chandelier. Why. Why did Vincent Phantomhive have so many chandeliers? Did he even have a ladder to go with the fact that Sebastian was going to have to risk his neck cleaning them? He supposed it went along with the fact the entire home was decorated like it was a gentleman's club in 1879. It even smelled like illegal cuban cigar smoke in every room.

"Nice work ethic." Ciel commented, strolling into the room. He wore a fake rose over his eye. Sebastian was starting to doubt if he actually needed to wear an eye patch. He wore a sheer lace shirt with a white brocade waist coat, tight white pants and long, white boots with wooden heels and silver detailing around the thigh. What the hell was wrong with this kid?!

"Nice outfit."

"I bet I've gotten fucked wearing these boots more than you've ever in your life."

"I really don't care." Sebastian told him. Ciel's attitude was insufferable but it was predictable and a sign of rather poor character development and over all shallow. Sebastian could pretty much predict what was going to happen next. Oooh... more snarky rhetoric from the audaciously dressed dandy Ciel Phantomhive! What a fucking shock! Goodness, let's all get the smelling salts, Sebastian's about to get a case of the vapors.

Ciel pulled out an opened bottle of gin from who knows where and set it down at a table in the library. He strode over, past Sebastian and picked up a book from the shelf without really looking at the title and sat back at the table. It looked like an antique book, though granted, almost all of them did. Ciel sighed and took a swig straight from the bottle and cracked open the book. He read a couple pages, and drank. Then a couple more, and drank. By the time Ciel had finished the first chapter Sebastian had just witnessed a fifteen year old put back an entire bottle of gin. Ciel did this without coughing or throwing up; and in fact, when Ciel got up to get another bottle, Sebastian noticed that he didn't walk with even the slightest of wobbles in his step. Sebastian wondered if he should tell Vincent, but he assumed that if Ciel were allowed to dress like such a little fruitcake, his father probably wouldn't care that he had the alcohol tolerance of a ninety year old drunken Irishman. When Ciel came back, he had tow bottles of gin and Sebastian wasn't around to see it, but he was entirely sure he had finished those as well. It wasn't even two o' clock in the afternoon yet.

Sebastian had a hard time imagining the kind of strange upbringing Ciel had. After all, it seemed like his father was never around and Sebastian wasn't sure if Ciel even had a mother to begin with. He tried to feel sympathy for Ciel but that was as easy for Sebastian to do as feeling sympathy for the devil. Of course. Sebastian had seen children who grew up with out stable parents, without direction- and that was a tragedy. But Ciel was no modern day epic of a young man in the bad part of town getting sent to prison for stealing some chump change to help his parents make rent. Ciel was a spoiled, obnoxious, over-indulgent, disrespectful brat who would probably grow up and make millions just for sitting on his rumpus and drinking gin all day. Now, _that_, that great dissonance where the underprivileged that work themselves to death with no hope of promotion and receive little; and the rich bastard in tacky white lace who does nothing and receive- _that travesty_, that is the tragedy of modern living.

Sebastian would help himself to the raspberry hinted sparkling water in the refrigerator even though it wasn't that cold, because it was there and he was thirsty. Sebastian looked inside of it, and noticed that everything in the fridge was neatly packed like it was put there just hours ago. Everything was untouched and unopened, as if it was there to entertain the notion that someone actually lived at the house. Either that, or Ciel and Vincent were secretly tidy and kept their refrigerator organized like this all the time, which Sebastian say quite confidently, when looking at the state of some of the rooms in their home- was simply untrue. Sebastian grabbed an apple with it, because if he didn't get some real fruit in his life soon he was probably going to get scurvy or something. It was starting to cloud his judgment and cause him to think stupid, improbably things. Sebastian dialed Agni on his phone while sitting on some velvet sofa in the hall way.

"Sebastian?! Why haven't you answered any of my calls?!" Agni asked, frantic with worring and concern over nothing.

"I was busy working, that's all."

"Are you eating?" Agni asked.

"It's an apple, Agni. Nothing bad has ever happened in the history of humanity over a single person eating an apple for a snack." Sebastian sighed.

"How ironic it is that you would say that." Vincent whispered in his ear. Vincent could swear that Sebastian jumped so high that he hit his head against the ceiling or something. He laughed at Sebastian, who dropped his phone and broke it. "Sorry for scaring you."

"I think that Agni is probably more scared right now than I am, since he always gets so worried about everyone, but mostly me." Sebastian explained.

"This doesn't look like you can just tape it back together." Vincent said. He picked up Sebastian's burner phone, which had previously held together with bits of masking tape. It hung in pieces by bits of wire that slipped out. Parts of it fell on the carpet.

"It was going to break soon anyways." Sebastian sighed. Today was not his day. He woke up late, had to put up with the annoying fruit cake, got caught slacking off, and... his cellphone. Which he probably deserved for two of those things, anyways.

"I can get you a company phone. I get a good kickback from one of the guys at verizon, they give me free services all the time." Vincent suggested.

"Isn't that illegal?" Sebastian asked.

"I do a lot of illegal things. Half of this house isn't even up to modern safety codes." Vincent told him. Which really, provided an extra amount of unsettling information for Sebastian. It also showed the kind of dumb extremes Vincent would go to for the sake of interior decorating.

"Nice broke phone, clumsy idiot." Ciel commented, walking by the two of them. He still looked like a frilly flaming homosexual cake and stank of booze.

"Is this what you're calling civil? Remember that deal we had?" Vincent asked.

"Considering the last one slashed her fuckin' wrists, Sebastian's doing swimmingly."

"Ciel."

"I'm staying the night at Alois's house." Ciel said.

"I'm surprised Hannah even lets you near him anymore."

"It was a little accident." Ciel scoffed.

"It wasn't an accident. You stabbed him with one of my antique swords."

"Which was an accident."

"Roleplaying with my real swords and stabbing your boyfriend in the abdomen isn't an accident. It's stupidity and you know that." Vincent told him, putting his fingers into 'air quotes' on roleplaying.

"He liked it."

"I don't even want to have this argument with you. Just don't come back here at three in the morning complaining because you had to foot the bill for his stab wounds." Vincent shooshed Ciel away.

Ciel scowled in Sebastian's general direction. The stupid bitch was probably judging him behind his back like he was some kind of higher moral ground than Ciel was. So what if he stabbed his boy friend? Alois didn't care and Ciel thought that in all honesty, it strengthened their romantic bond and distracted Alois from his suspicions that Ciel wasn't faithful. Which were entirely true because Ciel was cheating on him, though bless their souls, neither of his blonde lovers were smart to figure it out. That might have the reason why Ciel even dated them to begin with. Pretty and they don't ask questions or threaten sue him when he wants to have too much fun with his sword. Sebastian had no place to judge him; and goodness, Vincent couldn't even begin to judge him because Ciel knows that whatever he's done wrong Vincent has done on whole new levels of wrongness.

"Sometimes Ciel can be so unreliable." Vincent sighed. "He was _supposed_ to go out to dinner with his girlfriend at Dorsia and apparently does not care about the numerous strings I had to pull to get him a reservation there."

"I thought you just said he had a boy friend?"

"He has both. I'm sure there are probably more but the main two are Alois and Lizzie. They're both very nice, though I think Alois might be either be insane or a coke addict. In this city, it's impossible to tell those things apart."

"A teenage coke addict?!"

"A lot of kids do cocaine, Sebastian."

"In the bad part of town, yes, but," Sebastian tried to say but Vincent interrupted him.

"People do cocaine on park avenue, Sebastian. We just don't get prosecuted for it. You're not familiar with the upper class, are you?" Vincent asked him.

"I am not." Sebastian said, he felt kind of embarrassed that he was making a complete ass of himself in front of his boss. He was entirely sure that he was fucking up this entire _'being a responsible adult with a decent job and not a homeless vagrant'_ thing.

"It's obvious."

"Does that bother you?"

"No, but your shoes do. How about this, I'll take you out and you can get yourself some decent looking clothing. I doubt if you could have carried anything substantial in that back pack of yours. Which, I might add- also has to go."

"What?"

"Before I worked in investment banking, I was the accountant for several prominent fashion labels."

"Surely I don't dress that badly." Sebastian said. He didn't think he looked terrible, he was sure he managed to look better than most people did. Vanity was a sin, but he was doing his best to shrug off his christian upbringing and really, bone structure did not lie.

"You could compete with Ciel. How long have you owned that shirt?" Vincent asked him. Sebastian looked down at his shirt, trying to think. "The fact that you don't know is the reason why."

"I look nice." Sebastian protested.

"That's debatable." Vincent told him.


	3. attachment

Sebastian took a long look at himself in the dressing room mirror. It was really more of a session of narcissistic introspective than quick glance to see if the clothes he was trying on actually fit. It was a given that these pants fit well enough, but it was something to be discovered to what they really looked like. Sebastian admired his own pert rumpus in the mirrored walls, like he hadn't ever really paid attention to it before, which he actually hadn't. Sure he had a few comments made at his general direction or a few free drinks given to him by cougars in bars, but he didn't really ever pay that much attention to his appearance. Now that he did take notice, he kind of liked how he looked. Not in the Paris Hilton way of self-delusion but Sebastian was now becoming aware of the fact that other people probably looked at him and thought he was a fine piece of ass, as well.

For a second Sebastian wondered if Vincent had ever stared at his ass; and that was a rather forbidden and rude thing to think about your boss. It was probably rather presumptuous for Sebastian to think that a guy who could probably fuck a coven of super models every night if wanted to would be looking at the rear end of an overly religious metrosexual guy. Then again, Sebastian was spending way too much time noticing how the seams of his tight fitting pants hung against his legs and made them look far more longer and skinnier than they looked when the pants came off to really care. Sebastian also took the time to notice how downright thin he looked compared to how he used to. Grinding poverty was the diet that every super model wished they had, and Sebastian was reaping all the benefits of it. Not that he had ever looked over weight but there was a difference between the average, perhaps even toned he used to be and thin stick-like figure he was currently sporting. He dare say he liked the definition of his collar bones, the slight point of his hip bones and the bone structure of his cheeks.

"Are you alright in there?" Vincent asked from outside the velvet curtain.

"Yes, fine. Mind if I ask you for your opinion?" Sebastian asked. That was so, so stupid. Why, oh why, did he have to open his mouth like an unsure, weak-willed, idiot?

"I think you look fine." Vincent said.

Really, just fine? Alright so clearly Sebastian was heading far too deep into narcissist narnia but he had to think that he looked quite nice. With his skinny tooth pick legs and goth-black super-skinny jeans. He was about to feel a metaphorical pang of disappointment for Vincent's complete lack of interest in his damn fine visage when Sebastian felt the legitimate pang of Vincent pinching his rump. Yep. That was a thing that just happened. Vincent pinched his ass and now his hand was pretty much staying there. On Sebastian's ass. He just could have said he looked fantastic. He didn't have to pinch him or anything but it didn't make Sebastian stop having some kind of sick pride in the fact that his fantastic bum just provoked a man to touch it. He didn't mind at all. Sebastian might have even liked it. Actually, screw that, Sebastian was totally enjoying this.

Vincent's hand crept somewhere around Sebastian's waist and Sebastian found himself swooning like a girl in a period drama whose corset had been tied too tight. Then Vincent's lip managed to press themselves against Sebastian's neck and Sebastian was completely severed from the world around him. He did not know or care to know that he was in a public place. Vincent was entirely aware of his own actions, and entirely aware of the fact that he had Sebastian exactly where he planned to have him. In his arms squirming and far more comfortable than he should have been. Sebastian should have caught on to his game by now, should have ran off- but did not. Sebastian stayed there and let Vincent strip the clothes from his body piece by piece without the slightest thought to doing otherwise. For that, Vincent was very much grateful.

"Are you entirely sure that you want this?" Vincent asked.

"Are you trying to make me beg?" Sebastian asked back.

"Maybe later." Vincent said. He sat on the bench in the dressing room and slipped off his pants, then pulled Sebastian close to him.

It was easy enough for Vincent to use the handy-sized lubricant in his jacket pocket to coat his fingers and ease them up into Sebastian's arse. Perhaps it was a bit too easy or too smooth, but then again, Sebastian was pretty obviously a total twink. It didn't surprise Vincent in the least as to how simple it was to slide himself inside Sebastian, but even if it had, it would have been a pleasant surprise. Sebastian twitched in his arms, straining himself not to make any noise He was just so, so complacent and Vincent couldn't help but swoon along with him. He's always wanted someone so loyal and willing to do whatever he wants. He and Sebastian just fit together so well in that aspect and in others. Vincent pushed Sebastian down into his lap further, Sebastian whimpered and squirmed in his arms. For someone who let him touch him so easily, Sebastian really didn't know what was getting into him; but that was okay, Vincent was topping him anyways.

"Be quiet." Vincent scolded Sebastian, rocking back and forth.

"I'm trying..." Sebastian whined. Vincent resolved to himself that Sebastian was a keeper. He scratched his nails down Sebastian's back.

"Well, try harder. Goodness it's as if you want everyone to know." Vincent said.

He shoved his fingers in Sebastian's mouth before he could make a noise or say anything, and to make sure that he can't make any more noises except choking ones. Which really, sounded so very nice coming from him. Vincent wondered what Sebastian would sound like choking on his cock, but he could find that out later. There really wasn't a power struggle between them. Even as Sebastian sat on Vincent's lap with his legs wrapped around his waist, it was entirely clear at this point that Vincent was in control of this situation. Sebastian was just trembling in his grasp, making these endearing gagging noises while Vincent rocked in and out of him. Yes, he was definitely going to be keeping him forever. Sebastian was the exact perfect thing that Vincent was looking for, and he was so very happy to have found him.

Sebastian gasped when Vincent pulled his fingers out of his mouth and his cock out of his ass. What came now was the realization that came to Sebastian once his sudden unexplainable fit of lust and depravity had left him. He just had sex with his boss, in the changing room of a ritzy upper class department store, and his boss that he knew for less than 48 hours had just been inside him. And not only did Sebastian like it, but he also instigated it. This was the type of sick thing that he had been told to look down on others for doing his entire life. Sebastian was raised that such acts were wrong, and legally speaking- they were. Yet, even after wards without the promise of orgasm in his mind, Sebastian didn't care. Hell, he'd probably probably let Vincent fuck him in any totally inappropriate place he wanted to. This sort of freedom in breaking the law was thrilling. When they had left the changing room of the expensive department store in a hurry, they also seemed to have forgotten to actually pay for the clothing that Sebastian put back on. Oh well. It's not the first law they broke that day.

Sebastian was getting a shower in his room when Vincent decided to take the time to call Ciel and perhaps gloat to him about his particular... experience. After all, that's what all good parents did, all up their teenage children and wave their sexual conquests in their face. Ciel always had either Lizzie or Alois around the house in various states of undress, so Vincent couldn't possibly see the harm in doing the same thing to him. Ciel was probably with Alois fooling around in Hannah's living room and pissing off the poor, overly tolerant woman. Vincent wasn't a good role model for anyone, but especially not his easily impressionable, probably psychotic child-figure.

"So guess what I just figured out." Vincent said. Ciel sighed.

"What, I'm kind of busy here."

"Our little pet project is quite the natural submissive!" Vincent cheered. He could just hear Ciel getting upset at him over the phone. To the Vincent goes the spoils.

"I can not believe you! You told me that I was going to get first dibs." Ciel hissed over the phone. Vincent sighed in the foyer while Sebastian was in his room changing into his new clothes.

"You have acted like a spoiled annoying prick, canceled your dinner reservations, and have over all been a thorn in my and Sebastian's sides. So I got first on him, which was a thing that Sebastian suggested in the first place. Besides, you went over to Alois's house to get laid tonight. I don't even see why you're complaining about not getting laid when you're already getting laid tonight anyways."

"We made a deal."

"And you went back on a promise with me so I went back on one with you. Fair is fair, Ciel."

"Insufferable bastard." Ciel muttered.

"Right back at you, now if you don't mind I have a date with that fine piece of ass." Vincent said as he hung up the phone on a still-fuming Ciel.

Sebastian came down stairs, looking pretty fantastic, or Vincent would say that the clothes he was currently sporting did a much better job at enhancing the prime figure that Vincent knew he was hiding underneath his collared shirt and tight pants. He was also wearing what appeared to be high heeled shoes made for women, but hell, Vincent found that to be rather appealing as well. Sebastian managed to make scraping his pointed heels on Vincent's nice flooring seem attractive. God bless him. Vincent took him by the waist, and again, he could practically feel Sebastian's inner mind swoon at the touch. Vincent would save his perverted thoughts for later. At least until after dinner. Then he wouldn't be late for his reservation and he could have all the time he needed to think up something fun.

"You called for a limousine to drive us to the restaurant?" Sebastian asked. The idea of this was not a thing he was used to. Actually, eating out was a thing he was not used to, but really, who the hell calls for a limousine to... whatever. The idea was confusing the hell out of Sebastian, everything was lately and it was just time to him to stop questioning everything and go with it.

"I figured it would be more comfortable for you sit on." Vincent said. He laughed but Sebastian was not laughing back. "What?"

"I'm not that delicate." Sebastian told him.

"You are." Vincent said, and if Sebastian didn't believe him now, he'd certainly be believing him later.

Sebastian and Vincent did not take the same method of transportation home, and walked a few miles back to Vincent's house on park avenue. Not that they even bothered looking for the metrocard Sebastian forgot at home anyways, for the idea of walking home in the dark was a natural thing to think after they drank an entire bottle of top shelf wine to themselves at dinner. Though Sebastian was significantly more tipsy, and Vincent was holding his hand in a way that he probably wouldn't have if he wasn't a little bit tipsy himself. Truthfully, they had gotten kicked out of Dorsia for giggling constantly like a couple of stoned mountain lions eating bales of cannabis in the fields of canada. Everyone thought that both of them were stoned, and they weren't, they just had a bit of alcohol and genuinely got along well with each other. Goodness, perhaps they even liked each other for reasons that weren't purely superficial or physical. By the time they had walked back, they were both pretty much sober, the alcohol metabolized out of their systems completely but the stupid was still pumping through their blood vessels.

Vincent fumbled around with the key. They had about two seconds of being indoors before the rash decisions flowing through their blood took to the effect of Sebastian holding Vincent against the door and kissing him- hard. During dinner, Vincent's mind had wandered into perverse territory of inane sexual fantasies not unlike the writings of fanfic authors, but he really didn't expect Sebastian to kiss him first. That didn't bother him because it was pretty fantastic that Sebastian was taking so much initiative into getting himself into a plan that he wasn't even aware of yet. Vincent seriously could see himself falling head over stupid over stiletto heels in love with Sebastian, he really could. He could see them getting married in central park, Ciel being pissed off at the ceremony, Sebastian getting down on his knees and- Wait. That wasn't part of his fantasy. That was actually happening.

"Sebastian, really?" Vincent asked Sebs unzipped his pants.

"What?"

"I have an entire house of better places to have sex than the front door. Let's be a little more creative than that." Vincent told him, pulling Sebastian up his arm. Not that he didn't appreciate the gesture, there was just a bit of decorum to doing these things within a man's own home. No need to take the pretty twink in the hallway when you have a perfectly good bedroom to use.

Vincent's bedroom was something out of a catalog, or maybe just out of a really indulgent period movie that had a lot of interior shots. Yeah, it was a lot like the set of Sofia Coppola's 2006 Marie Antoinette. Except that would be historically inaccurate to say, for the light blue and mint floral patterns of Versailles weren't anything like the deep ruby and gold colors here. Vincent had a bed that could easily fit his week's worth of imaginary super models on it all at once with room to spare, complete with a match red and gold velvet canopy. It was entirely likely that nobody actually produced furniture like this anymore and Vincent had raided a castle from the 1600's in order to get his ridiculous, baroque furniture. It looked really nice and comfortable, like what would happen if the lair of the devil himself wasn't some kind of burning volcano but a very inviting trap meant to coerce you to stay there forever like the island of Circe.

It took the two of them thirty seconds combined to get undressed. Vincent could have teased Sebastian but no, not when he was being as good as he was today. Vincent was pretty fast and grabbed something off his armoire. That something was a black silk scarf, which wrapped around Sebastian's eyes before he could do or say anything otherwise. Sebastian said nothing as Vincent pulled him onto his plush bed. It was a really nice mattress too, really soft and plush to lay down on.

"Does that bother you?" Vincent asked.

"No, I'm quite enjoying myself right now." Sebastian replied.

"Would it bother you if I did this, at all?" Vincent asked as he held Sebastian's wrists together with one hand and pressed down on him, quite effectively trapping him in place. Well, not really. Sebastian was trying pretty hard to sit still for Vincent, he was just failing miserably at it.

"Not a bit." Sebastian told him, but he was squirming around so wonderfully.

"Open your mouth." Vincent told him, which Sebastian complied to quite readily. Sebastian made a muffled noise as his mouth was filled. He was being so good with this, taking the entire length into his mouth without complaint. Vincent would have to reward him by using his free hand to stroke Sebastian's erection. Vincent's earlier prediction was accurate. The muffled moans Sebastian was currently making as Vincent pushed in and pulled out of his mouth were great, really they were. Vincent pulled out, he wasn't finished with Sebastian yet. Sebastian whined when he stopped touching him, really how audacious of him.

"You can start begging now." Vincent told him. Sebastian stayed silent, to which Vincent dug his finger nails into Sebastian's wrists.

"Please." Sebastian begged. Even the slightest bit of pain got a reaction out of him, how wonderous!

"Please what? What is it that you could possibly be asking of me?"

"Please don't stop touching me."

That wasn't really specific enough, but Vincent could beat that out of him later on. Right now, he had a willing little pet in his bed who was quite literally begging to be fucked and that was good enough for him. Sebastian was really so submissive by nature, he didn't put up much of a fight. Ciel knew how to pick to them, but too bad that he wasn't going to be here to bother enjoying the outcome of his good decisions. Vincent lubed up and fucked him. Sebastian cried out, of course he was still going to be sore from earlier. Even the red scratch marks were still on his back, and Vincent was aware of that; but that didn't mean that he was going to take it easy on Sebastian. No, Vincent was going to give Sebastian exactly, well, more or less exactly what he asked for. Maybe Vincent was being rough with him, but he liked to hear him cry.

It's not anyone could hear how Sebastian whined and screamed out his name again and again as he fucked him in this room. It was soundproofed but it was also just the two of them in this large house, which somehow felt less lonely to Vincent when Sebastian was with him like this. Sebastian was nearly crying when Vincent was finished with him, how lovely he looked when he was like this. Vincent couldn't just kick him out of his bed, now could he? Vincent took the blind fold off him and brought him close and cuddled him. Yes, he was being awfully tender with Sebastian, wasn't be. Vincent couldn't really resist, though. Sebastian looked so pitiable, all spent up and sore next to him, and Vincent felt some even sicker need to embrace him in some strange, tender way that was quite unusual for him. He wasn't even this kind to his wife when they made Ciel, no wonder why she offed herself.

"Again, seriously?" Ciel asked when he barged into Vincent's room without knocking. Vincent was not holding up his end of the deal. I'll let you have first, he said. I'll take second, he said. Well, he certainly took the fuckin' both of him, he did.

"What can I say. He's cute and I am insatiable." Vincent said, petting Sebastian's hair. Sebastian cuddled up close to him, sleeping against his body, Vincent's arms wrapped around him. He was entirely unaware of a lot of things, but he was mostly unaware of this conversation because he was sleeping very deeply. Who could blame him? Vincent had given him quite the work out today, of course Sebastian would be sleeping sound after all that.

* * *

New chapter, but it's rather late for me! Sorry about that, I'm not really confident with writing stories like these so I'm spending a bit more time editing this story than I normally would. I'm good at horror and satire, but a chapter like this is a challenge for me even though I guess it's the same generic shit that everyone else does so I guess it's really not supposed to be challenging. But for me it is because I spend to much time on my other stories being more creative and original but when it comes to normal fanfics I'm just like... man, writing the same things everyone else does, how does it work. I'm so used to doing out there and crazy and cult-classic ideas that doing typicla shit just doesn't... click with me. Even if theres a lot of it out there I just don't know how to be normal. I guess being celibate and asexual doesn't help me much either. So if you all could give me a bit feedback on how I've done so far and what you'd like to see me improve upon in later chapters, that would be really helpful.

PS- insulting me as a person isn't critique. I've had people do that a lot on my other fics. But really, keep your critiques on the story not the fetus. if you want to anonymously insult me as a person, just go on tumblr and do it there, okay?


	4. an overactive imagination

Sebastian woke up in Vincent's bed, which is exactly where he fell asleep the night before. To more accurately phrase it, it's where he passed out the night before after a rather long day of sex and shenanigans with a guy he really didn't know well enough to justify having sexual shenanigans with. He had sex in a public dressing room, stole a very expensive outfit, then got so drunk with Vincent that they both got kicked out of a restaurant, then got fucked again. Sebastian was feeling it after wards, though he didn't really mind it. He was rather proud of himself after seeing the red marks still crawling down his back. Should Sebastian be proud of himself? Well, maybe not; but it was better than the alternative of not being proud of himself.

"You're pathetic." Ciel said. Surely enough, he was in the room watching Sebastian admire the imperfections marring his own skin.

"Who the fuck said you could come in here?! I'm naked!" Sebastian shouted.

"Whatever, I don't really care to gander at your unsatisfactory excuse for genitalia. I'm here to tell you to get the fuck away from Vincent." Ciel told him. If Vincent wasn't going to hold up his end of their little deal, then Ciel would fuck it up. He'd make Sebastian leave, and goodness knows that would probably be an unheard of- a good deed coming from Ciel Phantomhive. What a laugh!

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I'll give you ten thousand dollars cash right to leave. Leave the city. Go some where else. Just get the hell out of here and never come back."

"No." Sebastian said. Even if he wanted to leave for the money, he liked the idea of having stable employment and living arrangements. He liked the few friends he had here. He liked new york city and he really liked Vincent.

"One hundred thousand." Ciel said. Sebastian was not taking his bait. Take the bait, you stupid fucking butler. Take it. Swallow it.

"I will not be leaving here or this city. I don't care how many middle aged soccer moms your father threatens you with, you can't just buy me to leave here peacefully."

"Sebastian, you're an idiot. You have no idea who you're fucking around with." Ciel said. Vincent screwed over his deal, Sebastian out right rejected it. Ciel was being the nice guy here, giving Sebastian the chance to leave, he was being generous. He was breaking several rules, undoing several knots, completely giving away more than he had to give- and Sebastian was saying no. That fucker. Ciel hoped that he'd suffer for his stupidity. If stupidity was a jail sentence, Sebastian was about to get life without parole and he wouldn't board the boat to hide in Columbia.

"I am not afraid of you." Sebastian told Ciel. Who the fuck would be afraid of a short little faggot in a top hat and lace vest? Nobody.

"Fine. Stay here. Don't say that I didn't warn you. Don't cry to me later on when you can't turn back any more. We Phantomhives only exist to turn this world into a nightmare for anyone fool hardy to willingly step into the madness." Ciel warned him.

"I'm really not afraid of your little goth thing. What will you do, make me wear fishnet tights and listen to the cure?" Sebastian laughed at Ciel as he pulled his pants on.

"You'll see." Ciel said.

"I'm sure I will." Sebastian was really laughing at him now. He really didn't respect Ciel or even attempt to be nice to him. What was he, some delusional kid who called himself a vampire and probably drank clamatto juice behind the bleachers at his high school pretending it was blood.

Vincent was in the kitchen reading a book with a cup of coffee. Sebastian noted quite quickly that he wasn't wearing a shirt and that his torso was looking fine. The perverse thoughts were starting early and Sebastian had lost any abilities he might have before to feel bad about it. He noticed the second fact that Vincent was a Stephen King fan and reading 'The Shining'. Vincent stared up at him and gave Sebastian this sly wink and smile and god damn it he was fantastic bastard. Sebastian wanted to stay here and stare at him forever, but he was probably starting to look like a creep. Quick, Sebastian! Don't let him know that you're staring at his chest like you want to lick honey off it.

"There's coffee over there." Vincent said, flipping a page in his book. It looked like he had read it over a hundred times before.

Sebastian poured himself a mug of coffee, his hands shaking while he did so. He wasn't sure why they were shaking, he didn't feel cold at all but there his hands were. Shaking around, unable to even hold a spoon straight, getting tiny grains of sugar on the counter against his will. His stupid, stupid, useless, useless, uncooperative, pathetic, awful hands were staging a jihad and his coffee and Vincent's nice granite counter top was victim to it. He wiped the counter off when he was done, but nobody noticed. Ciel sat at the table smoking a cigar and drinking gin. First thing in the morning. In front of his parents. Sebastian was no longer shocked by this. He was more shocked by the fact that Ciel wasn't swearing at him or insinuating that he was a whore in front of Vincent who was already intimately aware of that fact. Though Sebastian was sure that Ciel start up his pedantic bitching later.

"So, when you are you going to start decorating for the Halloween party?" Ciel asked.

"Oh fuck me." Vincent groaned. "I completely forgot about that."

"We're having a halloween party tonight like we do every year, and apparently the both of you are too busy sixty-nineing to pay the fuck attention to holidays like decent sentient beings." Ciel explained.

"I'll go get the stuff out of the basement." Vincent sighed.

"I can help you." Sebastian said.

"Actually, I'll do this by myself. You can take anything that looks breakable out of our living room." Vincent said, running down to the basement.

"Offer is still open." Ciel shoved Sebastian against the wall. "Get out of here while he's not looking and I'll tell him you left. One million dollars. Just take the fucking train and get as far away as you can."

"I will not be intimated by a spoiled brat from Manhattan using his father's money to buy me out of a job because he hates me for some idiotic reason." Sebastian growled at him. That little brat!

"Don't be stupid, you want to leave. You can do anything, Sebastian. Open a bar. Publish a book. Go back to college. Buy a small house." Ciel told him. Ciel had him pinned against the wall, and for being a skinny goth bastard, he was much stronger than he should have been.

"Anything would be better." Ciel said, and he meant anything. Sebastian wasn't getting the message. He was thicker that concrete, denser than lead and Ciel's radioactive waves weren't reaching him. The purpose was lost. If he couldn't get this, well, he was doomed from the start and Ciel was to blame for trying to help in the first place. Maybe a kiss would help him? No, Sebastian struggled harder, and it seemed like he could bite down on Ciel's tongue at any second. What a stubborn bastard, honestly. Ciel was only trying to help him, in his own way. Save the poor man some suffering down the road. So maybe he didn't press Sebastian against the wall and shove his tongue halfway down his throat for entirely selfless reason. What. Ev. Er. It was still, well somewhat, heroic. The intentions were, anyways. Sebastian looked downright pissed. Ungrateful, stubborn, bastard.

"Get off me, you disgusting little gutter punk!" Sebastian shouted, pushing Ciel away from him.

"Well, I've stepped onto a very treacherous conversation. Ciel, what the fuck are you trying to do?" Vincent said. His demeanor seemed calm, without the slightest it of anger coming from him. Sebastian couldn't pick up on it, but the hair stood up on the back of Ciel's neck.

"If I ever see you try to wreck a contract of mine I'll end you." Vincent said.

"Whatever you say, father." Ciel hissed, stomping off somewhere.

"I'm sorry that he well, molested you. He has problems keeping his hands off things that don't belong him. Like bodies that are the property of others." Vincent apologized. "He's been so terrible after his mother passed away."

"He didn't hurt me." Sebastian said. He just felt him up and tried to bang him against the wall like some kind of sadistic jackass, but Sebastian wasn't actually hurt. He just wanted to wash his mouth out with listerine until his gums absorbed the alcohol and got him blasted enough to forget what just happened to him.

"He probably could have." Vincent said. "I'll help you get ready for the party, alright?" He of course, managed to punctuate this with a quick kiss on the cheek, which totally put Sebastian in a less gloomy mood. That was an easy to raise his spirits, alright.

The decorations in the house were delightfully spooky and Sebastian had to admit that they did a good job for only having finished the preparations ten minutes before the first people arrived. The banisters were covered with black, glitter edged feathers, fake bats hung from the chandeliers and there were candles and drinks everywhere. Which in retrospect, Sebastian realized was probably a very stupid idea; even if it did look absolutely fabulous with the atmosphere. Sebastian found himself added to the atmosphere of the party, whether he liked or not, and he didn't like it at all. Because he was in a maid's dress and even though he was a flittering, metrosexual, effeminate twink this was seriously pushing his personal boundaries. Vincent told him that they were doing a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme and if he had to put on a sparkling corset and chunky-heeled mary janes, Sebastian had to wear a dress.

Ciel had gotten off easy, because he got out of his obligations to wear his Brad Majors costume by dressing up as the protagonist to some satirical novel nobody knew of with Alois as his sidekick. What was it called again, super hell? Either way, he wore hair extensions that made him look girlier than ever, which was a pretty tall order. Ciel wore a black catsuit that had sections cut out at the sides of his legs, torso and arms with a pair of tall, backless boots and carried around a shiny black electric violin that he obviously didn't know how to play with him. Alois stood by him wearing a black wig that made him look like a sad scene kid, and a feathery, sparkling cape that dragged behind him everywhere and had everyone stepping on it constantly. Alois had to specify, several times in fact, that he was not, and insulted by the suggestion that he dressed up as the lead singer of 'Blood on the Dance floor'. Or what Ciel assured them all, was the shittiest band that had existed and ever will exist. It was undeniably shitty. It was so shitty not even a teenager would listen to it! So shitty!

"Hey Sebs, cute dress." Soma said as he snickered loudly. Sebastian was starting to possibly regret he fact that he invited him over at the last minute. Then again, he was not in drag when that phone call was made, and only after his friend assured that they'd 'be right over', did Vincent assert his opinion that Sebastian, and only Sebastian had the thighs to pull off his dress. Which he did. It's not like Soma could say anything. He was dressed as friggin' Sherlock Holmes.

"Hey now, Rocky Horror is a cult classic." Sebastian said.

"Can't argue with that." Agni said. He was dressed as the korean guy that played 'gangnam style'.

"I have never seen that movie before." Soma admitted. Both Sebastian and Agni shot him a look that could gun down crowds of people.

"Did you grow up under a rock?" Sebastian asked him.

"No but I spent most of my childhood on India, which is basically the same thing." Soma laughed. "Hey, I don't get mad at you for not watching Bollywood movies. Which by the way, are awesome."

"They're so camp."

"And that tiny little skirt you're wearing isn't?" Soma asked.

"Point taken."

The party had went well. Apparently Agni had caught on rather quickly to the fact that Sebastian had well, slept with Vincent. Agni could spot a red hickey mark hastily covered up with cheap concealer over a mile away, he was that vigilant. He also used to be a make up artist, but that was aside from the point. Sebastian had expected to be on the receiving end of a very long lecture on integrity and not screwing up and getting fired again, but received no such thing. Though Agni did suggest to him a bar he should take Vincent to in the east village. Agni was probably the most helpful guy on the planet, even if Soma had a tendency to well, make fun of everyone. He made the mistake of calling Alois a scene kid and nearly got decked in the jaw by Ciel. Alois could not, or as it seemed, was too afraid to raise his hand to anyone so naturally, Ciel filled the void between Alois's insulted expression and Soma's poorly received jokes. Soma had not heard of Superhell!, and quite honestly, didn't really want to read it after the way Ciel well, acted like the complete douchebag he always was.

The party had went mostly well. Aside from people just not getting along, Sebastian had managed to completely avoid any real social interactions. There were a bunch of shady bankers and shadier people that were probably members of organized crime that Vincent invited over. They sat in the back sipping champagne and smoking cigars. Then there were the bratty teenage goth kids that Ciel invited, that smoked clove cigarettes and drank rum with coke. Sebastian was sure they always looked like obnoxious tools with poorly applied makeup. Then there was Agni and Soma who Sebastian spent the entire time talking with, ignoring everyone else. Because really, he had nothing in common with kiddies that listened to too much Evanescence and even less in common with the upper class that were probably criminals, or in the least, had cheated the IRS. The party lasted until 2Am where Soma and Agni joined the last few teenagers that drifted out of the building but left the stench of their cheap booze and cigarettes behind for Sebastian to deal later.

This, of course led to the stunning conclusion that neither Vincent or Ciel were anywhere to be seen. Not that Sebastian really had any business to be wondering where two people that were well off without his worrying but it seemed so strange. He had last seen Ciel with Alois gossiping with a couple of pizza-faced outcasts in greasy, white face paint. The last point in time where he saw Vincent was when he has talking to some woman with brown hair, brown eyes, and a pair of absolutely huge knockers that looked like a crappy superhero drawing done by a neck beard who had never seen a real woman's tits before. Which was mean to say, but she should've gotten a refund on her implants because the sight of them would forever be etched in Sebastian's mind as a horrifying sight. Oh, how her chiropractor must have wept in joy as she paid their children through college.

Sebastian cleaned up the garbage around the house- and trust him, there was plenty of it. Alls sort of cigarette butts, papers, napkins, little red plastic silo cups with names like 'Paula' and 'Lau' drawn on them with scrawly sharpie drunk-text. The smell of people and god knows what else (did Vincent really let people do drugs in his house?!) still remained and Sebastian realized that he had no idea where Vincent's cleaning supplies actually were. Or at least he would be needing a rug shampoo and vacuum and he didn't know where those were. Or where the storage closet was. He was feeling pretty stupid and useless right about now. So he stalked around the house, knocking on the locked doors of Vincent's bedroom and office, only to receive no reply. Not even a 'fuck off, it's three thirty and I'm trying to sleep' from Vincent.

Sebastian figured that the cleaning equipment might have been in the basement, so he trudged off downstairs, half asleep and rather tired from cleaning up. Still in his maid costume and ridiculous make up, he opened the basement door and tried to turn on the light just to find out that it was broken. He walked all the way back into the kitchen to get a candle, because he couldn't find a flashlight. Sebastian felt silly walking around the antique looking house with a lit candelabra; he felt like he was some sort of nocturnal, victorian butler. He headed down into the basement, light source in hand, not entirely sure of how he was going to lift a vacuum and a candelabra up the stairs at the same time without setting himself on fire, but he was going to manage it because he didn't feel like going to sleep until he was done cleaning. That of course, is when he found Vincent and Ciel

Or what he assumed was Vincent and Ciel because Sebastian only had the feeling that's who they were. Two impossibly tall, long-limbed semi-humanoid creatures with stark white skin and foot-long jet black talons jetting out from their finger tips. This was not the costume Ciel was wearing when Sebastian last him. This was not the costume Vincent was wearing. Sebastian was almost entirely sure that they weren't wearing anything at all, and he was also sure- those were not costumes. They were also Vincent and Ciel, and staring at him, and they were dripping blood from their fangs. Sebastian didn't believe in demons. Demons couldn't be real. Vincent and Ciel would never kill anyone.

This isn't real.  
This can't be real.  
He was a fucking priest.  
He was a man of god.  
This isn't real.  
He can't be here.  
They can't be here.  
He's hallucinating from lack of sleep.  
He's seeing some kind of prank.  
He's sleeping and this just one really fucked up dream.

Except he isn't.

* * *

_This is pretty much the last bit of plot you'll be seeing. It's all going downhill from here. It's going so downhill it's rolling at a speed close to that of free fall. It's going so down hill it's in the earth's mantle. It's going so downhill, it's ending up in hell. _

_Not literal hell. Maybe some metaphorical hell similar to the crushing pressure and heat of the earth's molten, liquidy center bits. I forget what the part is called. I'm a fucking medical sciences major, ok? Didn't do so great in earth science. _

_Also next Friday I MIGHT be considering doing a livestream of me writing the next chapter of this story. But only if you're all interested and actually vocalize being interested to me either here or on tumblr so I can actually message anyone who wants to watch with info on where to find the stream. My tumblr is kurostuckholics. tumblr, you know the rest. Everyone's got a tumblr. __Or we can just say fuck watching me type words on a screen and I'll stream rocky horror picture show. _

_whatevers good for y'all. _


	5. you shouldn't have come here

"You shouldn't have come down here." Ciel hissed. Sebastian should have listened to him. Should have left. Should have run away with his money to the mountains where the worst thing he'd have to worry about is bears. Should have heeded the warning. Should have seen the hints coming from a mile away. Should have paid more attention. Should have listened to Ciel. Shouldn't have thought that he'd ever have the chance to go out on a romantic real-date with Vincent. Shouldn't have applied for the job. Shouldn't have gotten kicked out. Shouldn't have come back to New York City. Shouldn't have even been born at all.

"Help me." said the brunette, who twitched on the cement floor. She was bleeding from some where, that was for sure. Sebastian knew all this dripping, iron stench had to come from someone and it probably wasn't from the two demons. It was all her blood here, getting all over the place. Dripping from Ciel's fangs. Dripping from Vincent's talons. The pool creeping up underneath his feet was entirely the property of some sad girl with sadder implants.

"Oh Sebastian, whatever will you do." Vincent asked him. Sebastian said nothing. What could he say. What could he bargain with? What was he? He couldn't fight Vincent, much less Ciel. He couldn't pray this away, because his faith was weak and exorcisms were bullshit.

"How about this. If you cut her throat like a good pet and sacrifice her to me- I won't kill you." Vincent said. Sebastian looked at him, so very confused. He didn't notice that Ciel was standing closer to the door, either. Ready to block him, if he for any stupid reason, should try and run away.

"She'll die any ways. It doesn't matter what you do, but if it's consolation for your tender soul, it would be quicker if you killed her."

"Unless you of course, want to watch us play for a bit." Ciel suggested, laughing.

"No." Sebastian said, his voice audibly quivering. How long would he last here before breaking down? How long could her blood sit still beneath his feet before he lost his mind?

"No, you won't kill her?" Vincent asked.

"I will." Sebastian said. He could not bear the consequences on his heart for killing another. Could there be anything worse than murder, if there was, then it would be letting her die an even worse death than the one Sebastian could provide.

"And for who will you be killing her?" Vincent asked.

"You." Sebastian said. He looked down at the woman, at her blood all over he place; and he looked back at Vincent. This was for the best. There was no getting out alive for her.

"Oh goody I do love a present." Vincent said cheerfully. He smiled and handed Sebastian a knife. He trusted Sebastian completely.

This was probably Paula. She had a name and she had a past, and she probably had a lover. Who might not have loved for anything more than her surgically enhanced body. Who might loved her for what little brain function she had. Who might have hated her. She might have been smart but spent her entire life being shamed so she acted like a dumb bimbo. She might have acted this way just for money. She probably willingly went downstairs with Vincent for sex. He might have drugged her and dragged her down here. He might have led her to believe that he could make everything work out better in her life and here she was, crawling on the floor in pain. Sebastian didn't know or care or respect her even, but now- he was the ruler of her life. Whatever past she had- he was entitled to it. Her future- it was his.

Her future was stuck in the grasp of the shaking hand that held the knife like it has never held a knife before. To Sebastian's defense, it was a large, serrated hunting knife meant to cut the necks of deer or chickens or cows or something the definitely wasn't human. Vincent was saying something to Ciel, or to Sebastian while Sebastian's hand was shaking and he was trying to figure out how he'd cut her throat. Did he stab at her, hoping that would work? From the side, from head on? She saw her future in the reflection of the clean blade and looked up at Sebastian, hoping she'd save him when he's resigned himself to the more likely consequences of saving his own skin.

"Sebastian." Vincent said, waking up Sebastian from his philosophical thoughts on killing young women at the command of a demon. "Pick up the bitch, hold her hair back and cut the jugular. Three easy steps. That knife could cut bone."

Sebastian dragged her up, scraping her limp and broken arm against the concrete. He set her on her knees and held her up by her hair. He was sure it was probably agony but Sebastian wasn't exactly a winner came to murder. Her hair was slippery with blood and his trembling hands didn't help him to hold her steady. Paula, if that was her real name, barely moved. She was weak from blood loss and barely able to make a louder noise than an inhale as the hunting knife glided through her neck. It pressed against her bone, between the vertebrae. Just a bit of force and her head would come off entirely. The feel of what little blood she had left drip down the knife handle and Sebastian's was warm and almost comforting after what he just did. He was kneeling, the blood soaking his legs now and she went blank while Sebastian looked her straight in the eyes, watching her die, knowing this was the best he could do. The best he could was never good enough. Was never valiant enough. In the back of his mind, Sebastian enjoyed the warmth of the blood against his skin, and this thought and the realization of it only made him even more miserable.

"There we go. That's a good pet." Vincent said, kneeling down beside him.

He pushed Paula away and took Sebastian in his arms. Vincent stroked Sebastian's hair and made him feel safe even though he covered with some strange, dead woman's blood. Could it truly be considered Sebastian's fault? What else could he do in this dire situation except what Vincent asked him to do; so he complied. Then Sebastian was rewarded with the tenderness and affections of Vincent hugging him and wiping his tears away. Yes, Sebastian did well, served him well enough and deserved to be rewarded. He didn't even try to disobey. Killing the bitch was a show of loyalty, and if it wasn't that, then it was certainly something Vincent could black mail him for if he ever acted up. His fingerprints were all over that knife and there were two witnesses.

"Sshh... no more crying." Vincent said, patting him on the back. Sebastian sobbed into his chest, clinging to him like a pathetic, miserable child.

"Get over it, you sad brat. You're lucky we didn't get to the cross before you came in here. I wonder if you'd be more offended by us appropriating your stupid religion or us raping her."

"Ciel, shut the fuck up!" Vincent yelled at him. He patted Sebastian on the head. "He did very well for his first murder. He's just delicate. He spent his whole life being taught that our way of life is wrong, of course he's going to react badly to it."

"First? So you're not going to kill him."

"I promised him if he'd offer his loyalty, he would live. He killed her, so he gets to live." Vincent said.

He did pity Sebastian, in his own way. He could understand why Sebastian had such a negative reaction. Sebastian probably felt quite terrible, and Vincent knew that both he and Ciel felt similarly on their kill. But it gets better. He noticed how Sebastian's demeanor brightened visisbly when he felt the blood drip down from his hand to the floor. He enjoyed it. Humans were predisposed to enjoy killing other humans, even more so than demons were. While demons had a negative feedback from their brain and higher functioning empathy than humans did, it was to prevent them from killing every last human. In order to cope with they were culturally exposed to since the dawn of time, humans released serotonin in response. It felt good to kill. Even if he didn't need it. Even if he hated himself for it, the pleasure running through Sebastian's veins was an undeniable, involuntary response. Soon enough, he'd find himself addicted to the serotonin. What a terrible end for a such a good man.

"Here I thought Halloween was going to be a great holiday and we'd get rid of him." Ciel sighed.

"If you wanted him as dead as much as you say you do, then you wouldn't have tried to convince him to run before we ate him."

"I wanted to save him for Christmas." Ciel said.

"Oh, I'm sure you do."

Sebastian probably felt worse knowing that they wanted to kill him to. Maybe if he actually had the courage to let her live and make a run for it, she might have been able to get help. It didn't matter, she was dead and Sebastian knew whose fault it was, his own. There was no one else to blame, since he was supposed to die here anyways. Instead of killing the coward, they had him some innocent woman who probably didn't deserve it. He supposed to die, which didn't bother him as much as Sebastian thought it would. He never imagined that he'd be sitting quietly in someone's arms as they talked about killing him, who the fuck even thinks about that anyways? Nobody spends their life devoted to being a good person then ends up sacrificing someone to satan on a whim; or in the very least, they're certainly not expecting to. Perhaps some teenager that dresses like Ciel's shitty gothique friends looks up to satanist sacrifice as having a great time, but Sebastian doesn't. He can't see why anyone would think that this would be cool or fun. He was also entirely sure that maybe not even Vincent and Ciel didn't like this. He hoped that they wouldn't like killing him.

"You see Sebastian, Ciel and I aren't really father and son. Well I suppose now we are biologically but we were not before. You see, when I was just a young human I was from a rather poor and discredited family in England and I managed to get a scholarship to a nice private school for being smart. There I met, Ciel who was my best friend. Then you get the Phantomhives, a really rich family with connections to the Queen of England. They offered our class a trip to their manor for the week end, and there was a fire. Ciel and I were caught in the wreckage of the house. The beams of the roof crashed and crushed us, I burnt slowly. I swore myself away to the devil himself, promising myself to the devil himself. Ciel gave his own body as a sacrifice and I was reborn again, not just as a demon but also a Phantomhive. The real Phantomhives had died, so what difference does it make if I borrow it? Was use do cinders have for all the wealth I could have never had before?

Of course, I mourned the death of my friend for so many years after that. What could I do? He gave his life to make it so that I could live forever, and I feel like I spent a century living for him. I would have brought him back so much earlier but I had yet to figure out a way how. Then I met his mother, Rachel. All she wanted in this world was to get pregnant despite her illness prevented her from doing so. Who was I to tell her no? I not only gave her a son that she loved but I acted as the perfect husband, taking care of her. Except that I implanted the soul of my friend in her child. When she discovered what I'd done she killed herself, because she could not cope with the fact that he turned out to be just like me."

"Yes, yes, because it's just so horrible to bring a guy back to life." Ciel muttered. Well, at least gave at least some reason as to why he dressed so poorly. He wasn't even from this part of time.

"See, Sebastian? Nobody is really evil, we can be whatever we want." Vincent said. "Ciel just chooses to be an evil little prick because he's Ciel. He can be a good person when he wants to."

"Which I never do." Ciel said.

"Which is a lie. Now go do something good and get rid of the body while I take Sebastian upstairs." Vincent corrected Ciel.

The walk upstairs felt more like walking down death row. Instead of staring at the blank and deadened expressions of his fellow inmates, Sebastian looked at expensive paintings, vases, furniture, moldings and other such things that shouldn't have felt like a prison, but did anyways. He assumed that he would survive, or in the very least, he would survive a walk down the hallway and that was good enough. Sebastian and Vincent were tracking blood everywhere through the house. Vincent didn't mind, he was an expert in cleaning up human blood, he had a lot of practice, and shouldn't have he? Being a demon was a dirty job at both it's worst and it's best. Sebastian noticed that Vincent didn't really pull him so much, and he wasn't sure if Vincent was being patient with him or if he was acting more willing than he wanted to be acting. It was becoming alarmingly clear that Sebastian would anything that Vincent asked him, even if it was murder. It wasn't even a promise that he was afraid of Vincent, really, Sebastian was more afraid of how willingly he had given the life of another in exchange for his own. He was not a good man. He tried to be, but he really, really, was not.

If anyone understood that, it was probably Vincent who guided him so gently and didn't make him like he was about to die, despite the disturbing circumstance at hand. Could he really be so kind? Ciel acted like the demon he was, but Vincent more or less kept it hidden. Or perhaps his form of evil was a more insidious kind. Where Ciel was straight forward, while you knew that you couldn't help but feel animosity towards the douche bag for everything he was- Vincent was a different kind of evil. He was the kind of evil that held you in his welcome arms, told you he loved you, and probably meant it. When confronted by a loving evil and cruel moral world surrounding him, it was no surprise that Sebastian would so willingly choose the evil. Evil suited him better than morality ever did. Evil was kinder, and and more gentle than the so-called construct of 'morality'. Really, what difference was between morality and evil when they both delivered pain and pleasure, but in entirely separate ways. To be moral was to suffer for what is right. To be evil is to take pleasure in doing wrong. Was there completeness without one of them, and if there couldn't be, then why was evil viewed as wrong when it just as important as morality, if not even better to take part in?

Vincent led Sebastian to his ritzy bedroom, because they were both covered in blood in some ways and really, it was getting late. He should be a good master and let Sebastian get to bed already. After, humans had needs and he wasn't about to be so inconsiderate to Sebastian's. Sebastian was still in his cute maid costume and hadn't even taken the break to change into something more comfortable before cleaning after a nearly night long party. Bless him and his industriousness. Vincent could tell that Sebastian, as tired as he was was also more tense than usual. Vincent knew that this could because he had just convinced Sebastian to kill someone, or because Sebastian was alarmed at the completely natural (though not harmless) reaction he had to the murder. Did he enjoy it? Sebastian appeared more flushed than pale, more introspective than regretful, and more hopeful than worried. At least he was taking it better than Vincent thought he would. Sebastian was less fragile than Vincent had previously given him credit for.

"Would you feel better talking about it?" Vincent asked.

"Talking about what?" Sebastian asked.

"You don't need to play stupid around me, you know. I did just levy a rather arduous task on you, which you did very well, by the way. If you need to say anything then I will listen, it would be unfair of me to be inconsiderate towards your feelings." Vincent said.

"I promise that I won't tell any one." Sebastian promised.

"Now, now. I know that you wouldn't tell any one. I trust you completely. If I didn't trust you, did you think that I would even let you live?" Vincent asked. He nodded towards Sebastian. Sebastian on the outside, seemed so much more flustered than anyone should have. He fidgeted while sitting on the bed, looking almost too nonchalant. Vincent moved closer to him.

"No." Sebastian replied. Apparently not. Apparently, Vincent wanted him to remain alive, and if this because he cared for him or not was something Sebastian wasn't sure of.

"Did you enjoy that?" Vincent asked. Sebastian did not reply. Did Vincent asked him that, that question to which he didn't want to know the answer of, much less speak it? Vincent was dissatisfied by the fact that Sebastian would not answer him, but instead just stare at him with this blank, mildly horrified expression like a deer in the head lights of an eighteen wheeler.

"Do you enjoy the feeling of murder? It's a simple question."

"Yes."

"Yes to what?"

"I enjoyed killing her. Physically." Sebastian said, clarifying it. Technically, he enjoyed it. Physically, he got a rush out of it. Psychologically he wasn't entirely sure what he got out of it. Sebastian just knew that his enjoyment of killing her wasn't entirely in his head, and he knew that killing was oh so very wrong and that he shouldn't like it. But goodness! Those neurotransmitters weren't letting him get away with anything, especially not murder.

"Physically." Vincent repeated.

"It was a rush."

"I suppose that's why you are erect right now." Vincent said.

"Uhh..." Sebastian trailed off and looked down, just now noticing that the skirt of that dress wasn't really doing a good job at hiding that. He had been too distracted by the whole murder and guilt thing to notice that he had gotten rock hard from killing someone. While Vincent sat next to him, flaccid as can be (and Sebastian knew this because Vincent wasn't wearing anything) it made Sebastian feel awkward. Because really, there could not be a more awkward moment than getting an erection after killing a bitch in front of your demon boss, who had managed to stay platonic throughout the entire murder thing while Sebastian completely lost his mind and apparently the control over his body too.

"I am really, really sorry about this." Sebastian apologized.

"Oh I don't mind, I know it's been a little hard for you to handle." Vincent said. Sebastian stared at him until he had realized the unintended joke and laughed. "I meant difficult."

"I am sure you did." Sebastian said.

"If you want I can help you with that." Vincent suggested.

"Only if you don't mind." Sebastian wondered if it was really okay to say yes to that offer. In all honesty, he could really go for the distraction right now and sex with Vincent, however inhuman he may be, would be a great distraction. He was incredibly hot in all forms, it would be entirely unfair for anyone to judge Sebastian in this situation. What would jesus do? He'd bang the demon.

Vincent of course, didn't need to clarify that he didn't mind since Sebastian was bent over, face down in the pillow the second he said yes. Damn, that Vincent worked fast. Sebastian could feel him slipping off his girly undergarments, and he was pretty excited for this. This was exactly what he wanted after a traumatic experience, some stress relief. Sebastian could feel Vincent crawling behind him but there was something a little bit off. Maybe he didn't stare long enough out of courtesy, but if he had, he would have noticed that what Vincent was now sporting what actually was a slippery, twelve inch long, black, prehensile tentacle with a mind of it's own. That was brushing up against Sebastian's ass and making him a little well, tense.

"You should probably bite the pillow, love." Vincent told him, though it was really more of a command than anything else. Sebastian bit down, tasting egyptian cotton and a prickly damn quill from a feather sticking out, stabbing him in the mouth. He cried out, feeling it crawl all the way up into him like it had it's own nervous system, which scientifically speaking, it did. Vincent grabbed him by the hair and pushed him harder into the mattress. Sebastian took him in so easily, he didn't even have to bother giving him any extra lubrication, really, he couldn't have been any more perfect. The sight of him was kind of enthralling. Sebastian was bent over, his ass in the air, the skirt of the dress short enough for easy access. He looked cute in a dress too, definitely a good decision to make him wear it.

Sebastian spit out a tiny down feather and moaned into the pillow. Vincent didn't know why he bohered to try and hide it, it's not like any one but Ciel could hear him, and Ciel was pretty much used to hearing all the things Vincent tended to do to the ladies... and the men. And the man dressed like ladies, because really, the idea of a strapping young demon of his sexual appearance really couldn't be bothered limiting himself. Not just because it was unfair to himself, but because it was also pretty much unfair to the entire universe. Spreading the love around was easily done when he was banging Sebastian until he was an incoherent mass of squirming, crying manflesh.

"You still enjoying this?" Vincent asked Sebastian, who nodded in reply.

Sebastian's face was flushed a shade of red he hadn't seen on a human before, which Vincent took as a great complement. For he had never seen someone so sensitive to his touches and Sebastian made him so happy. Vincent never knew that all he'd wanted in life was to take a religious catholic and turn him into his own personal sex toy, but now that he'd done it, he knew that he was living the American dream. If the american dream was formulated by horny demons instead of corporations. Vincent wondered if Sebastian's dream was to be dominated by a shady investment banker that ate people. Did it matter? Either way, Vincent could tell by his panting that he was really, really into it. As tired as he seemed before, Sebastian came to life in Vincent's arms, transforming himself into the perfect submissive. The way that he collapsed into the mattress, not even bothering to hold on to anything, just laying there and accepting that happened to him without a care in the world.

He'd probably care if Vincent pulled out, but Vincent's wasn't so cruel. He was cruel enough to leave Sebastian's back criss-crossed with deep cuts from his claws and bruises from where he held onto his thighs a little too tightly or experimented to see if Sebastian liked being smacked (he did), and if so how hard (really hard). Yet he was kind enough to keep tormenting Sebastian as long as he'd be able to handle it, and he was doing exceptionally well. Sebastian genuinely enjoyed being degraded into nothing more than mewling mess, so Vincent wasn't about to stop, as tired as he was. Sebastian's dress had been destroyed in the process, leaving him bare and covered with blood that was actually his own this time. When Vincent trailed his tongue up his back, Sebastian shuddered in his grasp.

"Vincent..." Sebastian whined.

"Yes, dear?"

"I can't take any more. Can I please be finished?" Sebastian asked. He was getting tired.

"Only because you were so good, don't expect this again." Vincent said. He had been quite neglectful of Sebastian's erection, entirely on purpose to prolong his pleasure. Yet it was so very late and Vincent could tell that he didn't have too much more in his to give. Sebastian practically fell asleep after his orgasm, completely spent.

Vincent gathered the bits of fabric torn about and threw them in the garbage bin before tucking an already asleep Sebastian into bed with him. Sebastian was still injured and Vincent was ignoring the fact that he was getting blood and all sorts of fluids all over his sheets. He could have woken up and insisted that he get into the bathroom and allow Vincent to clean his wounds with peroxide and cover them with bandages like he should have, it wasn't really safe if he didn't. Yet, he was sleeping like the dead, his skin cold and his body unresponsive. He might as well have been in an exhaustion-induced coma. Still, he could be alright until morning, which it technically already was. When ever Sebastian woke up would be just fine with Vincent, even if that would probably be quite late. Until then, Vincent was content with holding Sebastian close while he slept, enjoying the sound of him breathing next to him. It was so relaxing and Vincent loved him, so very, very much. It was like a dream coming true.

* * *

This was really long because I am THE WORST rp partner and I am so very, very sorry. ;A; really I am the worst and there's no excuse for me but that is totally related to this story... HOWEVER! getting back to THE POINT. Oh yes the POINT the POINTY, POINTY, POINT.

I forgot what that POINT was, but thanks for reading this chapter! As always, I always love con-crit that actually addresses writing style (and no, my shitty typing is not a style and theres no reason for you to complain about it) and my ability to uh... write scenes like this. Which really aren't my strong suit, I'm more of a satire and horror person.

Oh, and if you want regular updates, there's my kuroshit doujin, which you can find a pink to in my profile. It updates every Friday and is full of hot victorian MADNESS!. It updates weekly because I draw the pages in batches, which I don't do for this story.


	6. in one bite

Sebastian woke up sore in areas he didn't know could be sore and figured that he probably deserved it, and it was totally worth it. Vincent was next to him, looking somewhat cross and Sebastian hoped for a second that he might get a repeat of his delightful smacking. He couldn't see his own back but he was sure it was more bruised than it was clear. Rather than being a shade of pale peach, Sebastian looked more dull purple than anything else with streaks of rust were Vincent tore him up. They both silently agreed that it was a lovely look on him.

"Good morning sleepy head, now get your ass out of bed." Vincent told him.

Sebastian remained unresponsive. He didn't want to move from this spot but Vincent grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of bed. It seemed like he was able to drag Sebastian around as if he weighed nothing at all, and if he was nothing more than a rag doll in his grasp. It was not surprising to Sebastian that he was this strong, but more so that he was promptly brought into the bathroom and set up on the side of the garden tub while Vincent ran the bathwater and got something out of the cabinet.

"I was not joking with you. If I want you alive, then you are not going to sleep covered in blood like that again. You are going to get clean and be lucky that I care enough to keep you getting an infection." Vincent scolded him, Sebastian nodded as Vincent shoved him into the tub.

"What the hell?" Sebastian complained.

"Now pay attention to me. You will not be doing that again, understand? I will not risk you becoming ill." Vincent told him, taking a section of Sebastian's hair and yanking on it hard.

"Yes. Ow. Let go." Sebastian said. Vincent did not let go and pushed him into the bath tub. Sebastian didn't fight back, and let Vincent do whatever it was he was doing. He wasn't sure if Vincent was trying to drown him or if he was trying to wash his hair.

Sebastian came out his bath even more sore than he felt going in. Vincent had done a more than extensive job cleaning his entire body. There was not a single place on his body that had been quite vigorously scrubbed clean. On the plus side, he now smelled like something other than sweat and blood, which was an improvement. He sat on the side of the bath tub as Vincent took out his first aid kit. Sebastian hissed as Vincent rubbed a denatured alcohol soaked washcloth to his chest and disinfected the wounds with it. Did Vincent have less painful antiseptics in his medicine cabinet? Yes, but he felt like using the old school, stinging one. Neosporin was for pussies. Vincent covered the worst of the claw marks down his back with a few pieces of gauze and taped them down in place in the case that they would start bleeding again. Which they probably would, they were deep enough that Sebastian probably should consider stitches and when he moved around it would prolong the time they took to heal. Still, Vincent couldn't really take him to the hospital because large claw marks were hard to explain in New York City. There were no mountain lions to place the blame on and pitbulls just don't have claws that can leave cuts like that.

"Next time, I'm not doing this for you." Vincent commented. If Sebastian was not capable of doing something so simple as making sure that he was clean, then he was simply not worthy of his place by Vincent's side.

Once he was dressed, Sebastian changed the bedding in Vincent's room. He had ruined the sheets with his own blood and other fluids, and he was sort of hoping that all of that could be bleached out. He looked at the sheets and mused that it did look like someone had been killed here the night before. Which was true, a murder did in fact, take place in the Phantomhive household last night. It just took place in the basement and not the master bedroom. The blood up in this room was not the result of a murder, but something that was much more fun than murder. On his way down to the laundry room, he noticed an entire trail of blood going from the basement to the upstairs. If that wasn't incriminating, he didn't know what was. Sebastian had never seen so much blood in his life, and he had no idea how most of that could have come out of his own body and he could still be alive after all that happened last night.

He had gotten very, very lucky. In a way, he had also been extremely unlucky. Of all the rich families there had to be in the world, he got stuck with the one that was two demons pretending to be a family. Out of the demons there were in the world, and Sebastian assumed there couldn't possibly be that many, for if they were any bit as violent as Ciel and Vincent then if there were, the entire human race would be dead by now; Sebastian had ended up with those two. Sebastian had to think the chances of him getting picked up by a rich demon were extremely slim, if not entirely impossible before recently. Still, he managed to beat the odds once again, for he ended up being the one human that Vincent did not seem to want to kill at all. Unlucky in circumstance, but extremely lucky that he managed to have his stupid crush on his boss returned. Sebastian was feeling arrogant enough to assume that Ciel felt the same way, though it was entirely possible that boy felt sexual fondness for anything that moved.

The pros to this situation: Living rent free, the chores are easy, it's a nice house, he can visit his friends, his boss is really hot, his boss is good in bed. The cons to this situation: the fact that he's officially a murderer and becoming more and more okay with that fact. That's six pro and one con, but it was a pretty big con. A life sentence con if he was caught. Though he did do it the instruction of a demon which would land him in the loony tunes ward instead of prison, and that also came with the assumption that Vincent wouldn't frame him for murdering her at a later point in time, and that he had also disposed of the body. Because Sebastian quite honestly, had no idea how to get rid of a dead body. That was not something he should be expected to know how to do. Yet, he could smell her corpse in the basement. When he turned on the light, she looked significantly different than she did last night. In that her limbs were mangled or ripped off and her organs were down laced around the ping pong table like festive christmas garlands put up much too early. It should have bothered Sebastian more than it did. The secret to getting over murder-related guilt and emotional crisis? Apparently a round of guilt sex after wards and sleeping in for half the of the next day.

Vincent sat in his office. Ciel was sleeping in the couch in the corner. He had apparently gotten into a frenzy later on that night, ripping apart that woman out of rage. Then after wards, as Vincent suspected, Ciel rummaged through his office. He completely wrecked the order of Vincent's book shelves and desk trying to find something. Then, he got tired and fell asleep on the couch; or perhaps he passed out after spending too much time rustling up the place like hurricane sandy. Ciel was back to looking like a sad a teenage boy who wanted to get his cellphone back from his father when he was grounded- but Vincent knew better. Ciel was, of course murderously angry last night because he didn't want Sebastian there, and he would continue his little tirade the second he woke up. Vincent was mad at him for going through his things but right now he was more invested in not spending the day dealing with Ciel's melodrama and let him sleep there in peace.

He could just put off dealing with Ciel like he always did, because he never wanted to. In some way, Ciel was technically two people. On one hand, he was supposed to be long and dead by now but replacing a soul was hard business! He grew up an entirely different person until he was ten and memories from his past life haunted him for years. He had, at one point, been committed to a mental institution by Rachel who was not aware the delusions he had of growing up in the 1870's were very real memories. Additionally, there was the part where he was just starting to grow out of his awkward stage and pupate into a fully grown demon, which meant his hormones were making him testy. Ciel was more toward being the person he used to be, though unfortunately he had duplicate memories of his two upbringings, and Vincent was still kind of his father. He was so close to being his best friend but he was also technically his son.

Loving people is hard work, but loving someone enough to impregnate a human female with their soul and lie to said female for nearly a decade on why Vincent never treated him like his child was harder. Did he loves Ciel? Naturally, that is why he kept his soul safe for so many years until he had the perfect chance to be reborn without the chance of dying again. Despite Vincent's best efforts, his years of patient waiting, and untiring loving, Ciel would never be entirely the person he knew before. He was about a solid eighty percent past-Ciel, and the other twenty was the Ciel as Vincent's child who sometimes won the fight for personality dominance. Indeed, Ciel could not see Vincent as his friend, as his father who wasn't really. Vincent could not see Ciel as his child, and so the relationship between them was strained for their memories of each other could not, and never would not match up entirely with the past, no matter which past it was. Still, this was better than being alone, and he knew that one day, he'd have his best friend back. Now they had forever to rework that whole friendship thing and destroy the sort of rebellious child attitude Ciel had towards Vincent.

Vincent stuck a note on Ciel reading, 'thanks for ruining my office you tiny pricked little jerk wad' before trying to find Sebastian. Sebastian was in the laundry room trying to scrub out blood stains on the wall with hydrogen peroxide and a green abrasive sponge that meant to be cleaning dishes. He was doing very poorly but Vincent assumed that this was Sebastian's first time scrubbing blood off of a wall. There was a learning curve to this type of knowledge, and Vincent wasn't expecting a human to do so well. Scrubbing human blood off walls was really something you have to be a demon to understand the importance of. Vincent looked around at the mess Ciel had made in here the night before. He didn't recall hearing the sound of Ciel ripping the body into shreds, but the sounds of Sebastian screaming were so loud there could have been a 9/11 scale terrorist attack across the street and he wouldn't have noticed it. There was still a bit of small intestine slumped over in the corner that Sebastian hadn't found yet.

"You missed that." Vincent pointed at the pink squiggle of flesh on the floor. Sebastian sighed, and picked it up with his gloved hand and tossed it into a black double-sealed garbage bag that was sitting by the door way. If anyone was completely done with Ciel's shit, it was Sebastian. A hundred times over, he was done with Ciel.

"Are you planning on just throwing that out?" Vincent asked. "Don't you think finding an entire human body in the garbage would be suspicious?"

"I really do not know or care. If you had not guessed, I'm not exactly the local authority on how to dispose of corpses inconspicuously."

"Ah, yes. I suppose if I needed to know how many hale marys to do after our little party last night you'd be of help then." Vincent teased.

He couldn't help himself, because Sebastian probably was aware of the exact number. Vincent could tell by the eye roll and the exasperated sighed, that Sebastian totally knew the exact number and was trying to keep himself from saying it. Vincent, having much contact with church authorities, knew the correct number was forty two; but after the fifteenth, god's grace became a tiring and repetitious affair. Thank hell he was immortal, for if he died, Vincent was entirely sure that he would end up in hell. Though with his antics, he'd probably get some kind of trophy or perhaps a custom spot in the hell year book that read, 'most likely to debauch young religious twinks'. Sebastian was back to scrubbing blood in a manner that was outright pathetic. Vincent snapped his fingers and it was like nothing had happened at all. The blood was gone, the body bag had fell into thin air, as if it had never existed at all. Sebastian turned around and stared at him.

"What the hell?"

"Magic." Vincent replied.

"Where did the body go?"

"I actually have no idea. I've never thought about that before." Vincent admitted. In all his days of just making stuff vanish, he had never considered the possibility that he could have been dumping it into someone's house in another dimension or something. Somewhere in the multiverse a family was eating dinner and then a bag of human organs splashed on the dinner table right over their freshly roasted space turkey. Their dinner was ruined, and it was all Vincent's fault for being careless with his demon magic. Who knows how many alien functions he had ruined over his countless years of just magically poofing away his problems. It had to be somewhere in the thousands.

"Well, there goes my plans for he rest of the day." Sebastian said.

"If it makes you feel better, you were doing a terrible job." Vincent said.

"It does not." Sebastian said.

"I need to avoid Ciel for a few hours and so do you. So would you like to go out with me again? I promise I will try my best to behave this time."

"Why do you act like he's some kind of threat?"

"He's not, but he is an insufferable prick and I know he's going to wake up in a bad mood and I really do not want to deal with it, and I doubt you would want to deal with the kind of attitude he has, since you're the one he's going to take this out on." Vincent admitted.

"Why me?" Sebastian asked.

"Take a walk with me and we can talk about it then."

Central park took up the space of nearly two square miles of completely landscaped and artificial building. It was a flat, rectangle shaped expanse of solid green which stood out against the gray and steel colored building surrounding it like a sore thumb. Though at this time of the year, it was more of a flat, flame colored rectangle expanse against a sea of solid gray monotony. There was, in fact, nothing about it that was not carefully and painstakingly engineered to look like the real wilderness. From the ponds to the rocks that set against the otherwise flat surface, all of it was fake. Manufactured and sold as a selling point and as a sort of cold comfort the resident of the city, some of which would probably not have seen a lake unless it was a fake on. To be fair, the people who did work hard on it made it look convincingly real, which is what mattered on the outside but all for all intended purposes, it was still a lie.

Sebastian and Vincent held hands as they walked through the park. Sebastian wore a heavy crocheted scarf and a pea coat, while Vincent was wearing a suit without even gloves. Even barehanded, his hands were still warmer than Sebastian's. Sebastian wondered if this was because he was a demon, and what other differences Vincent had from himself. Well, he knew of one but that was too heavy of a thought for him to think about right now. He wondered if he felt bad for Rachel Phantomhive. It was some of deal that Vincent had where he gave her a son, but Sebastian couldn't but help but to ponder on the idea that Vincent may actually loved her. Or perhaps his dedication for Ciel was enough for him to tolerate Rachel. If Vincent did not love her, then he loved Ciel enough to put up with both a wife that secretly harbored a vendetta against him and a son that acted like a prick every hour of every day. He thought of Vincent ways that were too human to be loagically aligned but Sebastian didn't realize this glaring flaw in logic and assumed that Vincent thought of things just how he did. Which he didn't.

"You're being quiet, and it worries me." Vincent pointed out.

"Am I?"

"I'm not sure, you don't seem to make much sound unless I'm forcing it out of you. It's kind of depressing, really." Vincent said bluntly.

"I don't really have a life to discuss. As if you haven't already noticed that I am not a cultured or interesting person." Sebastian said.

"I wouldn't say that you're uninteresting. I just think that you are so used to hiding yourself from others that you're not even aware of who you are. Now that you are past such a harmful part in your life, you don't know where to go from there." Vincent said, and Sebastian felt as if he was entirely right. Perhaps he had lived long enough to know what was right and what was wrong, or maybe he could read minds. Sebastian's mind once again, because a lit with so many thoughts he spaced out in midconversation.

"Sebastian." Vincent said, but Sebastian was too busy in his own world of wallowing in self-doubt and pity to listen to him. He grabbed Sebastian by the chin and pulled his face close, kissing him softly.

"Pay attention when I'm talking to you." Vincent told him. Sebastian looked past Vincent, to see about a dozen spectators and Agni staring at him. Agni saw and ran off before Sebastian could say anything to him.

Sebastian wondered if Agni was mad at him. After all, he was being needlessly reckless. Sebastian had just gotten his things together and the second he got the chance he made out with his boss in central park in broad daylight In public. With everyone watching them, including Agni, who just ran off when he saw. What kind of friend was Sebastian that the second he'd finally stop being a fuck up- go out and fuck up yet again. He was that friend that everyone else hated and only pretended to like because they were a hilarious, entertaining train wreck whom everyone pitied, but never liked enough to really have a thought of that was not apathetic. That was Sebastian; a pitiful five car pile up that couldn't keep himself together long enough to think rationally about the fact that he'd more than willingly poured his heart into a demon's hands and trusted him not to crush it. He didn't care, not even when his cellphone rang and it was Agni.

"Hello?" Sebastian asked apprehensively.

"So, how was your date with Vincent?"

"It was nice, why did you run off like that?" Sebastian asked.

"I didn't want to cock block you for the night or ruin the mood. Do you think you're getting any tonight?" Agni said. Sebastian let out a sighed of relief. Thank goodness for Agni. He was the eternal good guy, the hero to every story, the guy who everyone liked just because he seriously such a great, nice guy.

"I hope so." Sebastian said. Vincent standing in the door way to his bedroom looking at him like a piece of meat was a pretty good indicator that the answer was yes.

* * *

Trust Me, now with a zazzy new playlist:  
**h+t+t+p+:+/+/tinyur+l.+c++om+/+bn6zye2**

****These never are popular w/ me because I end up putting in a bunch of EBM and industrial songs nobody the fuck else listens to because fandom loves either jpop (why oh fucking why) or like, fucking indie rock (oh dear fuck oh double why... are you people heard of hearing). I tried making it more mainstream this time in order to appeal to the "delicate" (read: mediocre) tastes of the common, non-spooky types. Also put it on youtube instead of a download, so lucky you guys.


	7. Intermission: Stake of my Soul

This is what happens when I decide to do a Valentine's Day themed intermission for this story, detailing the romantic back story of Vincent and Rachel's relationship with each other, starting with how they met on Valentine's Day...

* * *

_Would your bare your neck …_  
_to the walking dead ..._  
_Secretly, at least, within the safety of your head?_  
_Tell me, isn't it nice-_  
_every once in a while -_  
_Being the center of attention of a loving,_  
_Handsome..._  
_Parasite,_  
_Answering your call, the invitation of the scar,_  
_For being wanted,_  
_accepted-_  
_for the way you feel you are?!_  
_Stake of my Soul- Sopor Aeternus_

Rachel really wanted a child, more than anything else. Which is why her sister was placing the IV in her arm at the emergency room at two in the morning. She had managed to conceive a child with her exhusband, but she had a miscarriage after the stress of him walking out on her got too much. Angelina sighed and looked at Rachel. It wasn't just the acute loss of blood that made her look so dull and lifeless. Ever since she had was young, she had always wanted to be a mother. She studied to be a kindergarten teacher, majored in developmental psychology and got her masters. Went back to school to get a second masters in special education. Went through two husbands, ten boyfriends and a couple of invitrofertilization trying to have a child of her own. She loved children, she had helped so many of them but now all she wanted was a child to love and take of of her own. No adoption agency ever called her back, and she didn't have the money to pay for a surrogate mother after the divorce was finalized. He called her obsessive, depressed, and too suicidal about her inability to give birth to a child to actually parent it if ever actually lived. Rachel just wanted to love someone who couldn't leave, or at least someone who would give her a few years of unconditional love.

He (or she, or xe) would grow up with a loving mother who was smart and compassionate. He would get he best grades in class, he'd go to private school, he would take music lessons, he'd be good in sports. Rachel would hold his hand through all his trials and suffering. She'd stand by his side if anyone bullied him school. She'd be there with the glasses he needed, if he needed them. She'd be there at night after all of his nightmares. She'd be there after school waiting to pick him up. She'd be there in the morning if he was sick. She'd be there with a tissues after his first break up. Oh, she'd love to be there for all of the suffering, the good at the bad, standing there as if she were under vigil, as unwavering as the navy. Withstanding rain and tear gas for her loving child... who fell right out of her womb. The sight of the mangled, red, mass of flesh hanging from strings and tendons from her vagina was nothing new, oh, it had become absolutely mundane to her! How many times did they tell her to give up and she laid there again, with Angelina pitying her as if she was a child who'd never learn.

"Rachel, you can't keep doing this." Angelina said.

"I will be fine."

"I am a doctor, and you're not. You are full of shit and delusional. You are going to destroy yourself before you're even thirty over this. Your body can't take this." Angelina told her.

"I don't need you telling me these things. I can be whoever I want to be as long as I put my mind to it, and I want to be a mother." Rachel said, as she was strong willed to the point of obstinate stupidity and she was as immobile as the olympus mons.

"No you can't. The only thing you're being is a reckless fucking moron." Angelina said.

"Excuse me Doctor, but shouldn't you not swear at the patients?" asked a dumb blonde intern.

"This is my sister, I'll swear at her however I please. It's hospital protocol to yell at your siblings." Angelina said. The intern stared at her with a confused face. "Write it down". And they did just that.

"As I said, I feel fine." Rachel said, "I'm getting discharged and going to work."

"Like hell you are!"

Rachel was discharged that morning like she wanted, but not without spending all of the time between 2:30 and 6:00 being screamed at by her sister. Who, in all fairness was entirely right in her yelling because Rachel was being reckless. Prescribing to too much hormone therapy, too many failed rounds of therapy, too many experimental treatments, too much failing to give up on a hopeless case. There were always irresponsible doctors waiting to 'help' her, taking advantage of her desperation, giving hr treatments they knew would hurt more than would harm. Rachel would pay any price they asked, and they would not turn down her offers. They would not turn down her hope, they would reassure her as much as they could, and take all her money and wellness in the process. The more damage done was the more money in their pockets. Rachel would never listen to her sister, and tell her she didn't know any better because she was a heart surgeon not an OBGYN.

She never canceled class, not for any reason, not for any sickness. Angelina told her to cancel class but she refused to leave her students for even a day without being properly taught. They deserved to get an education that nothing less than perfect. Any pain she felt was nothing, and she popped an iron pill and picked up a coffee, which she assume would fix everything. Ms. Rachel always came to class early and with a smile on her face. Today was Valentine's Day and she came to the school, waiting for the janitor at 6:30 to open the doors for her. She decorated the class room with pink and red sparkle garland and banners she made from paper doilies. She wrote every student in class and nice note about what she thought was great about them and placed it in their cubbies with a piece of chocolate in the shape of a heart. If she had a son, she'd name him Ciel and give him as much chocolate as he wanted. If Ciel had wanted an entire head-sized piece of chocolate- he would have gotten it from Rachel without question. However, Ciel had died tonight, so it really made no difference to her either way.

Rachel was exhausted after class, and she knew she wouldn't have the energy to walk home. She could call Angelina for a ride, she could call for a taxi, or she could just walk home in the cold, fully aware that she wasn't well enough to do so. She obviously chose the final option, ignoring all common sense, if only because she felt guilty for miscarrying. She didn't deserve to get a break, even from herself. She lived four blocks away from work; and between work and home was a small coffee shop that wasn't her favorite because they rarely were open. She could stop there quickly and grab a sandwich and some tea for dinner before going home. Half of a journey, a quick rest to rejuvenate her, and half of it on the way home. Yes, this would be the perfect plan and she would feel just fine. There was nothing to worry about and Angelina was entirely wrong. Rachel could handle this, she could handle any situation she wanted to, and she didn't need anyone telling her that she was wrong.

She sat at a table by the window and ate quietly in the crowded coffee shop. It was packed full of hipsters and teenagers, people of the 'artistic' and 'fashion' type which she did not readily associate with. People that were probably the elder brothers or sister or even parents of some of her students. She could not tell the difference between a fifteen and a twenty five year old hipster, they looked and acted the same, and both lived off their parent's bank account. They multiplied in number every week, more and more people growing out their short hair cuts into shags and taking up acoustic guitar until Rachel was sure that there would be more hipsters than any one else. Is something still considered alternative if the majority of people happen to be interested in it? What kind of foul god would allow some idiot teenager to conceive a child to an irresponsible man child sputtering 'out is in' rhetoric, but somehow pass up the chance to a make a well employed, kind woman who is an expert on dealing with children a mother of just one, just one child.

In the safety of her apartment, Rachel graded papers and prepared class schedules. Did she want to do a power point presentation or a short film? Oh, what the hell did she know, they wouldn't notice the difference but at the same time, she didn't want to do anything wrong or whatever else. Check off anything distracting but it still had to be flashy enough to catch the attention of small children. She called the library and made sure all copies of the book they were reading were reserved for her class. The librarian was getting snippy with her for no good reason. Of course, Rachel wasn't Mrs. Poltageist with the thirty years of teaching 'experience' who sat her students in front of a tv screen for six hours, and provided far-too-easy multiple choice tests tests that did nothing but give her students easy A grades. Yet, Rachel, who managed to spend countless hours preparing was written off because she wasn't middle aged or a parents and there wasn't a thing she could do about those two things. Though, she wished, that if anything at all, she could just have a baby. It wouldn't matter how much it cost, she'd pay any price at all. Any price for a son, for a daughter, for a healthy and happy child to call her own. She'd even settle for an unhealthy child, as long as she could have that baby in her arms, she'd spend countless hours tending to it's illness. She'd go to hell and back for this love, and fist fight god for what she thought was her right and win for this love. Such was the unconquerable love of a mother who could not ever become one. Yet, not all the money in the world could set a price high enough that she wouldn't pay it, what Rachel wanted was simply not accomplished by human means.

"Any price?" asked someone standing in the corner. Rachel grabbed a pair of large scissors and brandished them in front of the intruder.

"Get out of my home!" she screamed. "I'll call the police!"

"Relax, I am not here to harm you or your property. I am only here to lend a helping claw, well, hand in your direction. You desire a child more than anything, and you have failed spectacularly to have one." he said, standing quite nonchalantly there with a hand on his hip. His gestures were casual and care free, as if breaking into someone's home could be made into such a flippant gesture.

"Do not mock me! Did Angelina put you up to this?" Rachel asked. This can't be real, Angelina did this to scare her into not having a child. A good scare to trick Rachel into doing what other people thought was right. Oh, what a cruel joke, what a cruel prank, but Rachel always thought that Angelina had a cruel streak in her.

"No one put me up to this. You see, I am a demon and I am attracted to souls with a certain strain of desperation. The helpless, the destitute, the miserable, the hopeless, all of which appeal to my sense of taste. The only one who brings me here is you." he clarified for Rachel, who was now panicking. He did not move from the spot, not even when she showed signs of wanting to kill him.

"Get out." Rachel repeated, she retreated to the kitchen, replacing her scissors with a meat cleaver. He did nothing to stop her from doing this, he wasn't even threatened by the gesture.

"Hear me out. Your soul is a fine payment for a child." he requested.

"I don't trust you." Rachel said.

"I will not only give you a child, but I will give you as much time as you need to feel like you've been a good mother. You'll die happy. You'll have accomplished what everyone said you could not. Just please, enough of the wallowing, it's really so pitiful to see you suffer so when I stand before you, giving you everything you would ever want, and more, all for something quite priceless." he said.

"How much time?" Rachel asked.

"As much as you need."

"Then I accept your offer, Mr. Demon. My soul for a child to care for and love." Rachel said. If his is the price that she would have to pay, then she would do so enthusiastically. She meant it when she said that no price was too high for her, not even her soul was too much to ask for.

"I'd prefer it if you called me Vincent, actually." he said as he took the meat cleaver out of her hand and set it on the kitchen counter.

Vincent was not a terrible person to spend time with. Angelina, in fact, thought that Rachel's new 'boy friend' (as if she'd ever feel that way about him) was exactly what she needed. He was polite, he was sweet, he was good with children, he was funny, he was charming, he had a successful career as the accountant to a big fashion designer, and he was a complete knock out. Even Rachel had to admit the idea of being a handsome devil was not lost on Vincent. He charmed everyone that he met, including her sister, especially her sister. Though Rachel knew that if Angelina was aware that Vincent was a demon, and the deal they had made, that she'd be completely voided of any envy she felt. For Rachel, this was not about love, and she couldn't care if Vincent was the most handsome and charming man who ever lived (he probably was at least in the top ten) she did not love him. She only wanted one thing, and that was her child. She didn't care how many romantic dates he took her out on, or how convincing they were in public, or if they made a cute couple, she did not love him and he did not love her. The sex was unsatisfying and boring, and was done for strictly procreation purposes only. Vincent commented that even his prudish Victorian sister would have made it more interesting.

They got married to keep up the charade, and everyone thought that their wedding pictures were the most beautiful they had ever seen. They were married in central park in the spring next to the blooming lilacs and magnolia trees. Vincent wore a black suit that was cut at just all the right angles to make him look exceptionally thin. Rachel wore a pale lavender silk dress with chiffon that trailed back behind her for what appeared to be miles. They were both radiant and Angelina said that Rachel had never looked happier in her life. It wasn't because she had settled down and gotten married for the last time in her life, it had nothing to do with Vincent at all. It had everything to do with the child she was currently three months pregnant with, it had everything to do with her precious Ciel. Her sky, her hope, her dream for which she had given up her very own soul to obtain. Now lived inside of her, safely, peacefully sleeping for months until it could be born. Rachel looked down at her abdomen, and though no one else could see or feel, she could feel the life inside of her and it made her the happiest woman in the world. This was the only love she would ever need in her life.

After Ciel was born, Vincent had made the miraculous transformation from the best husband a woman could imagine, to being the most loving father a woman could imagine. Rachel quit her job to be a mother full time, like she always wanted. She moved into Vincent's house (or perhaps the house of his prior victim, she never asked the origin of it) with Ciel. It was a massive home, in a safe area, the perfect place to raise a son of her own. He was perfect with bright blue eyes, though he had Vincent's dark gray hair which only reminded Rachel of where her precious son came from. He was a perfectly behaved baby, never crying and rarely causing a fuss. He was perfectly healthy, without a trace of illness or complication. Everyone was so happy that Rachel had gotten her own child, and Rachel knew that this what she had always wanted. Vincent was not any less happy than she was, constantly doting on Ciel as if he had been a child born of love instead of a child born of a deal. As a family, the Phantomhive performed the function. Ciel was taken care of by two parents who loved him unconditionally, a mother who catered to his every whim, a father that could protect him from anything, and a home that was envied by no man. They never fought, and never disagreed, Vincent was as complacent to Rachel's will as he was to Ciel's. He performed the function of father perfectly, to the point where Rachel wondered if she should step up her game in the fake wife department.

"Do you really love him?" Rachel asked, one night as they lay side by side together in bed, two feet of space between them.

"Of course I do. Even if there is nothing between us, Ciel is my son as much as he is yours." Vincent said. The words stabbed Rachel in the side. Ciel would always be the child of a demon. She could never have him all to her own self.

"Would you have rather I left you alone with a son to care for on your own? Either way, I wouldn't have ever allowed that to happen. I'm a monster, but I'm not heartless." Vincent said. He tried to reach for her, to perhaps comfort her for a little bit, maybe even sexually.

"Well, you can keep your heart to yourself." Rachel said, turning over.

"How boring." Vincent commented, she could hear him picking up a book and opening it to where he left off last night. He never slept.

One day, Ciel had his first breakdown. One second he was reading a book in the library, his favorite book, an old tome of Sherlock Holmes mystery stories which he had read cover to cover perhaps hundreds of times and never tired of it. Rachel found him an hour later sitting under a desk facing the wall, curled up into a ball, just crying there. He was inconsolable at first, screaming that he felt like his body was on fire. The next, he said that he was dark and cold and cried into Rachel's body whispering for Vincent to save him. That he was dead, that he was going to die, that he couldn't remember where he was, that he couldn't remember who Rachel was, yet he always knew Vincent. Rachel could not save Ciel from the terrors of his own mind, Rachel could not do anything as she watched her own son slowly go insane at a young age. Rachel could only stand there watching Vincent calm him down time, after time, taking out all of the parental love Rachel promised that she would give. She felt like a failure, she could not even have a child on her own, and now she was relying on Vincent to help him.

"Vincent, we have to take Ciel to a doctor."

"No."

"This isn't right, Vincent! I've had to take him out of school."

"He hated it there, anyways."

"His teachers said he tried to kill another student. He's not well, Vincent." Rachel said.

"Ciel is fine."

"His breakdowns aren't fine! He's not okay, and you better fucking help him or so help me Vincent Phantomhive, I'll end you! This is not what we agreed on." Rachel hissed.

"We only agreed on two things. That you would give birth to a son, and that you would live long enough to parent him properly. Did I ever once tell you that raising a demon child would be easy? No."

"Demon child?"

"Were you expecting a child fathered by a demon to be human?" Vincent asked.

"You can't do this."

"Baby, there's nothing else he could have been. It was either demon baby or no baby and you wouldn't take no baby for an answer. You said no price is too high for a son of your own. You said you'd love him no matter what. This is loving him no matter what. No matter what he is."

"You used me because you wanted a child of your own... one that's like you."

"The only thing you can do is stop acting like a demon is the worst thing he could be."

It was Angelina who found her first. No, not Rachel's' body, they died together. But the body of a woman, torn apart so badly that even if they knew her identity, they'd never be able to pin exactly who it was. Even dental records and finger prints wouldn't have helped. She laid here in Ciel's bedroom on the floor next to the bed as he slept peacefully. He looked like he always did, except with blood splattered all over his face and torso, making his angelic frame into a nightmare. The marks on her body were deep and elongated, as if she's been attacked by a bear or something much, much worse. But there was no denying it- Ciel had done it. The blood was literally all over his hands and forearms, his bed and he was sleeping with a smile on his face. As if his normal gloomy temperament had been cured by a very high dosage of pure human and flesh and blood, cleaved straight from bone and drunk from the vein. It was obvious that Ciel had mauled her to death, but Angelina couldn't bring herself to silence her crying for long enough to keep the tiny sleeping monster sleeping.

"Aunt Red?" he asked, groggy with sleep. His eyes glowed bright red in the dim room, as if he were a cat seeing better in the dark.

"Ciel, what have you done?" she asked.

"I was just hungry, that's all. I'm going to go back to sleep now, aunt red. Vinnie's in the kitchen with Rachel." Ciel sighed,

Ciel back up on his bed like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Like it was nothing to get worried bout. He didn't explain anything, and Angelina closed the door slowly before running downstairs. She trailed the blood that was all over Ciel's bedroom floor through the house as she ran to find her sister. Rachel was in the kitchen with Vincent, red in the face and was clearly yelling at him earlier. She looked like she was about to cry, but Vincent looked as good natured as he always did. It was like Rachel was screaming at a wall that wouldn't bothered no matter how many times she insulted or threatened it. He waved hello to Angelina but Rachel only looked regretful, as if Angelina was the last person she wanted to she her like this.

"Hello Angelina." Vincent said. "Welcome to the family secret. We're mostly demons and we kill people."

"Rachel, you knew about this?"

"An, please, he promised me a son. I didn't think it was going to be like this." Rachel said, finally breaking down against the kitchen table, crying. Vincent tried to comfort her but she slapped him away.

"You could have stopped him!" Rachel yelled.

"You have to understand that Ciel will die if he doesn't kill." Vincent explained.

"I want my son back! The one that loved me, the one that wasn't a murderer." Rachel cried. She had lost Ciel to Vincent. She doted on him endlessly. She was there to kiss all his bruises, which healed abnormally well. She was there for all his school lessons, which he learned with a kind of ease that became a genius. She was there for all of his hair cuts, which he needed more frequently than normal. She was there for all his eye doctor appointments, and he could see better than any young boy should. Oh, how the evidence fell into place for years; and she was too blinded by her love for mother hood to notice that her own son, the son who lived inside of her, she son she gave birth to, the son she loved unconditionally- was a monster! She was absent for his kill, only walking in to a speckling of blood to land on her face and stare into the emotionless, red colored eyes of a son that was never really hers to begin with. He still went back to his father. They were two of a kind and Rachel was left on the outside looking in to a party she could never be invited to. Oh, how could she have lost him? He was never really hers to begin with.

"He was always destined to be like this. Tell me, Rachel, do you think of it as truly so bad? Do you think that I am so bad? Am I truly unlovable? Am I a monster to you? Haven't I treated you kindly for so many years? In which world do you live in that neither I or Ciel are capable of loving you? You wanted a family and I gave you a family. I loved you both so much Rachel, why would you reject this?" Vincent asked.

"You're a liar!" Rachel yelled at him, before taking Angelina by the arm and dragging her out of the house through the back door.

Angelina swore she saw the hallway lined with bodies. They just piled up in the hallway. Countless people, mostly women with their bodies mutilated and bleeding everywhere. It was a bloodbath in the Phantomhive manor, how could she have not found out about this sooner? How long did Rachel suffer in silence. The blood stuck to the bottom of their shoes and trailed behind them as they ran down the streets towards Angelina's apartment. Angelina buzzed herself in quickly and they ran into the elevator, the doors closing in front of them with no trace of Vincent near by. Once they reached Angelina's high rise, they locked themselves inside of the apartment.

"What the fuck just happened?!" Angelina screamed.

"Ciel just hit demon puberty, that's what happened! It's been like this all month, Angelina. I can't handle it. They just kill and rape everything. I can't handle this. I've seen too much. It's blood all the time. I close my eyes and all I see is the son I loved becoming... a monster and killing everything." Rachel sobbed into her sister's shoulder.

"Rachel, we can get away from this. You can divorce him and move away. Just because he's... whatever the fuck did all that, you can leave. He doesn't own you."

"No we can't." Rachel cried, emptying out a container of salt around the perimeter of the doors and windows. "He does own me. That's the thing, An. My soul is bound to him. He can find me no matter where I am." Rachel cried.

"Rachel, you can beat this. You don't have to take him on head first."

"I can't."

"You are amazing, I have never once seen a woman with the drive you have. First, you get two masters while working full time as a teacher. Then you spent years trying to have a child. Hun, you loved Ciel so much you'd give up your own life for him to be happy. I have never met any one as kind and loving as you are. I have also never met anyone as stubborn, You can do this. You can escape this." Angelina said. Rachel believed her.

"Rachel please, can we just talk about this?" Vincent asked from the side of the door. He heard no reply and so he slumped against the door with a dull thud, sitting with his back facing them, staring at the empty wall in front of him. He fell to the floor with his head pressed against his knees in defeat.

Rachel and Angelina shared a gaze with each other. Soon, he would find a way inside of the apartment, and then what? What could possibly happen after Rachel spurned both Vincent and Ciel, both of which would snap through the two of them like tooth picks, except a certain death? Rachel was not afraid of dying, but she was afraid of the pain. She was afraid to see her son turn into another lying monster like his father. She was afraid that they'd make Angelina watch. There were so many fates worse than having her soul just taken from her breath from within the depths of sleep, a promise she'd never see redeemed. Rachel opened the window, careful to not disturb the line of protection she had drawn earlier. She heard a thump against the door and the urgency of the situation only increased. Oh how quickly, Vincent could break in. She stood outside of the apartment on Angelina's fire escape and held out her hand, and together they stood on the fire escape looking down at the city crawling below them. People within the hours of the night walking home from a long day, cars driving quickly past to arrive home. They held hands, Angelina squeezed Rachel's hand tight and together, they jumped. Vincent's didn't hear this over thousands of his own, tear-filled monologue.

"Rachel, I am really sorry about this. I messed up with Ciel and I know it's hard for you to even look at us right now but this isn't what I meant to happen. I know you think that I can't love you but honestly, I have loved you this entire time. I didn't go into this thing falling in love with you or anything but how can I just not fall in love with you after being with you for so long. I don't care what differences are between us, I know what I feel for you is real. How could I just have a family with you and not come out of this knowing that I didn't just want a soul out of you. I don't even think about our contract anymore, I don't think of you as a meal. I think about you on the dates we shared. I think of you whenever I see the color lilac, I think about you walking through central park. I remember all the time we shared with Ciel in front of the fire place on Christmas morning. Whenever I think of you, I don't think of you as a person I can use, I think of you as somebody that I love, and how do you expect anything else of me? I love you so much, I'll accept all of you, no matter what you think of me. No matter happens, no matter where we go from here as a family, I promise I will never betray you. We've been together for sixteen years, and I loved you for at least fifteen of them. I know that you hate me, but why should you teletype me as someone that I am not.

Has nothing I have done in the time we've known each other prove you wrong? Do all he nights we stayed up reading stories to Ciel when he couldn't sleep mean nothing to you? Do our family trips to England truly prove so little to you that Ciel and I love you more than anything in the world. Rachel, please just come back and we can work something out. I won't do anything in the house any more. You can live somewhere else or we set aside part of the place just for you where you don't have to be exposed to that. Just give us a chance to make it up to you, give me the chance to earn your trust back. I don't want our family to break apart. I want all of us to stay together. I want to stay with you every night for the rest of time. I love you so much, I'll do anything I can to prove it to you. I'll spend the rest of time trying to win back you favor. I know you hate me and I don't want you to feel like you have to stay with me forever, but please, just come back for a few hours and we can work this out. We can be a family, Rachel. A normal family like we all want, you don't have to run or hide from us. Please, just come back and I promise I'll prove to you that you can trust me."


	8. faux diamonds sold to fools

"I hate you." Ciel hissed at Sebastian with his fangs bared.

"You tell me that you hate me every day, it's really losing it's venom. You should try to find a better way to make me scared, because this little hatred based rivalry really is just becoming stale between us." Sebastian told Ciel who was standing there looking like a tart in knickers as always.

"You really are thick, aren't you? You think that you're so special because Vincent's after your arse like a horny rabbit, but really, theres nothing good about you at all, you're just some stupid, stupid man who think that he's cut out for more than he is, and I'm tired of trying to make you leave. If you want to stay in a place that will hurt, then fine. Go ahead, I won't feel bad for at all when this entire charade come back to kill you in full force. Goodness, I might even join in for a bit just to see you suffer like your willful ignorance makes you deserve." Ciel said.

"Yep, you're right. I'm a stupid asshole who you don't like and I don't really care either way." Sebastian admitted.

"The two of you never stop fighting." Vincent said as he walked in on Sebastian and Ciel once again yelling at each other in the kitchen over coffee and liquor. If they went an hour without fighting, Vincent would have gotten worried that Ciel had managed to get up the gall to kill him.

"I want his annoying ass out of here." Ciel told him.

"Two words, Ciel. Soccer Mom."

"I don't care. Bring on the Minnesota accent, bring on the lutefisk. I'm ready. Just take out this irritating metrosexual, because I'm pretty sure he serves no practical purpose in this house other than being a fleshlight that does housework."

"I don't care. I'm still legally required by the united states federali to actually parent you. So if you don't stop acting like an annoying little drama queen, I'll lock Alois in the basement and do horrible, horrible things to him. Hannah will have to file a million laws suits just to cover the things I'll do to his face." Vincent threatened him. It was like parenting Ciel, except parenting him through committing hundreds of violent felonies in order to cancel out one minor felony. If this is what demons called parenting, it was probably a good thing they didn't choose to have children often.

"You wouldn't dare." Ciel hissed.

"Really, because I can fake your voice pretty well and have Alois over here under the false pretenses of a booty call in five minutes. Hell, he'll even come over here with just a quick text, won't he?"

"I don't care. Go ahead and do it." Ciel said.

"I'm not kidding about this. I am literally going to kill your boyfriend if you don't stop being a jerk to Sebastian. Do you think verbally abusing him is worth losing one half of your ridiculous gothic lolita harem?" Vincent asked.

"I will make the bet that you won't actually kill him at all." Ciel said.

"If we get into a bluff game, I'm telling you I will win it either way. You can't beat me in a game of anything, Ciel." Vincent said. He had set up Ciel to a losing game. Ciel can call it off and say he was bluffing and Vincent would win the bet. Or he could let Vincent kill Alois and he'd lose Alois. Ciel was set up to fail from the very start.

"Bring it on, _pops._" Ciel said, handing his cellphone to Vincent.

"Hello, Alois? It's Ciel. I was wondering if you'd like to get laid tonight? Can you come over in like, five minutes?" Vincent said over the cellphone, faking Ciel's inflection perfectly before nodding and hanging it up and handing it back to Ciel. "I am serious here, Ciel. He's going to be here pretty soon."

"I am serious too." Ciel said. Looking over to the door and by some mysterious slut magic, the door bell rang and it was undeniably Alois.

"Hey Ciel… and uh, Mr. Phantomhive. We're just going upstairs to uh… study. Ciel promised me that he'd help me with math because I'm a huge dumbass." Alois said. He was surprised to see Vincent, Ciel and Ciel's strict looking father standing in front of him. He was sort of coming here to do immoral things to Ciel and the last person he wanted to run into before doing those things was Ciel's father.

"Really? Because it was my understanding that you came over here for sex."

"Whoa! Now, that's not true. I'd never do anything wrong to Ciel. I'm a gentleman."

"So if I look in your bag, I won't find anything sexual? No condoms or lube?" Vincent quizzed him. Alois looked positively scared of him.

"Well..." Alois said, trying desperately to find himself a way out of this.

"I made the call, Alois. I can fake Ciel's voice._ Oh Alois would you like to come over here and screw? Because I am also an irritating tramp._" Vincent said, faking Ciel's voice again.

"I am really, really sorry." Alois said.

"If you're really, really sorry, then why don't you prove it to me?" Vincent asked him.

"Maybe I should just lea-" Alois said, before trying to turn around.

"Cute, but you're staying here."

"What?" Alois asked.

"Sebastian, can you be a doll and grab him for me?" Vincent asked.

"Sorry. I actually don't know what is going on either." Sebastian said as he grabbed Alois's wrists and held them behind his back. Alois tried pulling out of his grasp but even a weakling like Sebastian was strong enough to hold him still.

"Jeeze, Sebastian. You really suck at murder, you know that? Just go along with it and drag this kid into the basement." Vincent sighed.

"I promise I'll try to do better." Sebastian said. He was quick to please Vincent and not make a fuss, because for all he knew, it could be him. That thought didn't really occur to him directly, it was tucked into the back of his mind somewhere; but Sebastian did not consciously regard the idea that Vincent had any intentions or ability to harm him. So he did as Vincent said, handing Alois's wrist over to Vincent's grip.

"Aw, he looks positively terrified." Vincent said. They were in the basement, because well, the rest of his house was filled with nice, expensive, irreplaceable things and Vincent didn't want the blood of a (mostly) innocent teenage boy splatting everywhere and staining his stuff. Sebastian was happy for this, since getting blood out of the nice sofa would have been a bitch.

"Please, let me go. I'm so sorry. I promise I won't come around any more, I won't ever bother you again." Alois cried out.

"Ciel, why don't you actually help me?" Vincent asked as he bent Alois over a table, Alois tried to get away but he was a weak boy and Vincent was a strong demon, there really wasn't any hope for him.

"Oh no, this is your bluff, Vincent. I'll watch." Ciel said, taking a chair from the corner and sitting in front of Alois.

"Ciel please don't let them kill me." Alois begged Ciel, who only stared back at him with an apathetic expression. It was at this point that Alois started crying, hoping that some how, Ciel would actually be strong enough to save him or the police would hear or something.

"Death is the least of your worries. If anything, you'll be begging for it." Vincent said, handcuffing him by the arms to the table. Alois tried struggling a bit but Vincent slapped him hard in the face.

"I will make it slower for you if you keep doing that. So sit still."

"I don't want to die like this." Alois whined.

"Yes, and there's a lot of things I wouldn't like either but the sad thing is that life is horribly unfair and cruel and you just happen to have horrible luck." Vincent said, strapped Alois's legs to the legs of the table three times, so he was completely immobile, his toes just barely able to reach the floor.

"Sebastian, do you want to?" Vincent asked, holding out a whip, which he cracked on the floor of the basement to ensure that it was in fact, nice and springy. Alois shuttered.

"He's quite young."

"I did a background check, he's actually seventeen so it's legal. Not that it would stop you, with your catholic priest background I thought his youthful appearance might make it a little bit more fun for you." Vincent said.

"Is this really the time to start adding in jabs about my faith?" Sebastian asked.

"Ciel, he's annoying me." Vincent said.

"Alois, shut up." Ciel scolded Alois as if he were nothing to him but a spoiled child.

"They're going to kill me!" Alois yelled, as if Ciel wasn't already aware.

"Does it have to be said twice before you understand? Shut up!" Sebastian yelled, smacking him hard in the face.

"Sebby, dearest." Vincent said, pretending to be surprised. "You're finally letting loose from those silly inhibitions of yours. I'm so proud of you, love."

"He was pissing me off." Sebastian said. Vincent placed a whip in his hand.

"I think we should probably disrobe him." Sebastian said.

"Of course, dearest." Vincent said, taking out a pair of scissors. He cut away Alois's clothing as the boy shook and sobbed. His shirt was shredded and wrapped around his eyes as a blind fold.

"My favorite thing, how did you know?" Ciel commented at the blindfold.

Alois screamed when the first hit of the whip cracked against his back. The hit was weak, because quite honestly, Sebastian had never whipped anyone before in his life and both Vincent and Ciel were surprised he managed to make a little pink line with his terrible stance and wrist movement. Yet, in a few minutes Alois's back was red and bleeding from the lines of whip cuts going across it. Sebastian found it to be relieving of so many years of pent up repressino and stress that he had practically managed to erase the fact that he was toturing someone against their will from his mind. It was not in his thoughts, the only thing he thought about was how thrilling Alois's screams were each time he stuck him on the back. Oh, how Alois had finally stopped asking them to stop and let him go. Only when his screams died into choked sobs and his throat bled, did Sebastian stop smacking him with the whip.

"Sebastian, you really did a number on him." Vincent said, running his fingers tips over the wounds on Alois's back and coating his fingers with the blood.

"I should have left more for you, I apologize. I got carried away." Sebastian said, minding his place in this situation.

"Oh, no. Don't apologize for art. I like them nice and bloody, besides, it took awhile for me to get hard. I almost feel guilty about killing Ciel's boyfriend." Vincent said.

"Really now?" Ciel asked.

"No!" Vincent laughed as he took a single blood coated finger and licked it slowly. "Ah yes, all nice and sticky."

"You know, he did have lube in his pockets. Strawberry pocky flavored condoms, too." Ciel said as he rummaged through Alois's backpack. Ciel tossed the bottle of lube to Vincent, who caught it and uncapped it.

"Thats _weird._" Vincent said. Alois squirmed as Vincent prepared him. Which Vincent thought was more than generous of him to do, all things considered. Though truthfully, he was so small that it would probably be too tight if he didn't, and it was more for Vincent's benefit than Alois's, but Vincent still considered the fact that he wasn't using his own blood to do it to be a very kind gift of him.

"Ciel please... I don't want to do this. Please help me." Alois cried.

"Alois, hush. You're making this worse for yourself." Ciel told him.

"Ciel, please. Please. I promise I'll do anything you want. Just make it end." Alois cried out again. He was truly suffering, there, though Ciel didn't really seem to mind so much. He watched Vincent torment him over and over again, even though Alois was blind folded, he knew Ciel was watching him with a smile on his face. They were both so aware of their positions in this situation, and Alois was aware that he was going to die, and that Ciel did not care enough to stop him, though he doubted if Ciel could if he wanted to.

"You know Alois, if Ciel were really my son, this would be so awkward. But he's not so it just feels nice, so go on, keep begging him to save you. I promise I'll enjoy it more if you do." Vincent said as Alois pulled on his chains, hoping that there would be a miracle and they'd break. Vincent would have never bought handcuffs if the chains were anything less than industrial strength. If those things wouldn't break under the pressure of a car, then Alois wasn't going anywhere, though Vincent knew he wasn't being rough enough because Alois was still under the delusions that crying about it would make him stop, which it wouldn't.

"He does have a point. Maybe instead of killing him, we should let him live." Ciel suggested.

"Is this your way of saying I win the bet?" Vincent asked. He pulled out a knife and took the sheath off of it. He had finished, so there really wasn't any point in prolonging this shenanigan. The joke had run it's course, it was as old as gangnam style.

"No." Ciel said.

"Then he dies."

"Ciel, please!" Alois cried.

"Alright. fine. I withdraw my bluff, you have called me to my limit." Ciel said. Vincent put the knife on the ground.

"Don't thank me yet, Alois. You'd be happier dead than kept for me here, repeating this every night until you die of being over worked. Which apparently, is a thing that has happened to us before. Really, it's a problem."

"I promise I'll be good for you. Just as long as it's you."

"Really? Because I'm the worse than death itself." Ciel said.

He stroked Alois's hair and patted him gently on the shoulder, trying to calm him down. It worked well enough that he had stopped crying, and calmed down enough that Ciel felt like he could reasonably unchain him from the table. Alois shook from the cold and the blood loss. Ciel unstrapped the leather straps from Alois's legs and broke the chains on the hand cuffs. Alois could not stand on his own, his legs were about as useful to him as sausages filled with gelatin. Ciel held up Alois as he clung to him, Ciel's bare arms against his cuts stung but Alois was so grateful to be alive that it didn't bother him how badly he was hurt or if it was all Ciel's fault. He was alive, Ciel was here, and he might even live to see another day. Perhaps the oxygen deprivation and torture was rendering him incapable of making wise decisions, but Alois would go with Ciel to where ever he asked, whatever he asked was. Alois was dripping blood all over the basement floor, and Ciel staredup at Sebastian since it was his fault, too.

"Sebastian, make yourself useful for once and take him upstairs and clean him off. He's almost slippery at this point." Ciel ordered him. Sebastian stared back at Ciel, like,_ 'who the fuck do you think you're asking, punk?'_ and rolled his eyes.

"Ciel, what did this lesson teach you?" Vincent asked him.

"Sebastian, could you please clean him up?" Ciel asked.

"Absolutely." Sebastian said. Alois flinched as Sebastian lifted him up with one arm and carried him upstairs. Even someone like Sebastian could lift Alois's weak and fragile form and carry him upstairs.

"I work in mysterious ways, Ciel." Vincent said.

"Mysterious? More like sadomasochistic."

* * *

I actually didn't know what path to take with this chapter, so I flipped a coin to decide which path to take. Serious writer skills, right over here, guys. I can't believe they haven't given me a fucking pulitzer for this. When I was editing this last night, "Rape Me" by Nirvana came up on shuffle. How fucking ironic, Cobain's haunting my fanfiction from beyond the grave...

In addenum, I have something *special * for you all, or perhaps evil. If you go to the AO3 mirror of this story, you can in fact, find photographs of me dressed up as Vincent. Or you can have fun retyping the following urls with out the plus signs:

h+t+t+p+:+/+/+fav+.+me+/+d5uu10g

h+t+t+p+:+/+/+fav+.+me+/+d5uu6wr

**Fun story:** I stole the free mason's bible out of the basement of my grandfathers house. Funner story: His signature (or any signature relating to that family) was completely absent from the ledger so I assume that he stole the bible from an actual free mason. Or maybe he stole it from someone who stole it from a free mason. I did not not simply steal the free mason bible- I followed a legacy of people stealing it. Go figure, but one thing you can bet on is that the free mason bible's gonna' make a superbulous reappearance when I cosplay as priest!Sebastian. I might get use my La Veyan satanism bible but imo, the freemasons one is very cooler looking.


	9. the intimate devil's den

Did ff. net change the font they use? Wow... I didn't even notice that until *just now*. I can't do this. I can't handle this change. I feel like Stewie when half of his bedroom walls are taken off.

* * *

Alois was by all means, a whiny little cunt. A whiny little cunt, who, five times, asked Sebastian to let him go and even tried to _bite_ him. Sebastian might have smacked him in the face again and he hoped it didn't bruise because if it did, Ciel would probably go off on a tirade again. Alois at this point was already bruised and battered to the point where it would be hard to discern where the whip bruises, smack bruises, grip bruises, all began and ended. Ciel would be exactly the kind of person who would be able to tell all those subtypes of bruises from each other and perhaps the time of delivery, which would make it very incriminating. Sebastian knew he shouldn't have adversely laid a hand on Alois's body outside of his orders. Alois's face was just so slapable and he did try to sink his filthy little teeth into Sebastian's wrist. It was a temptation Sebastian couldn't resist,s he loved being a sadist. Plus, Alois was just asking for it, and he deserved it. Or that's how Sebastian was supposed to think it should have been. He wondered if Alois would die soon, he probably would.

"Fuck you, you're just a sheep!" Alois shouted at him.

"You know, I have had it with you children insulting me." Sebastian sighed.

"Sebastian." Ciel growled from behind him. He was back to looking pissed off again. A few minutes ago, he looked almost happy, as if tormenting his boyfriend put him in a good mood for a grand total of two seconds before Ciel resumed his duty of being an insufferable little cocksucker.

"What?" Sebastian asked.

"You're being too rough with him."

"He's making it difficult." Sebastian complained.

"If you're going to chain him up like that, at least use the velvet cuffs. Goodness, it's like you've never kidnapped someone and held them hostage in your life." Ciel said.

"If you don't like, then do it your bloody self, he's not my hostage, anyways. You're the one who basically insisted that he come here, not me. I had nothing to do with the fact that you can't stop being a little prick long enough to keep this little bastard here safe."

"Oh great, blame me for this."

"It is your fault."

"_Partially_."

"Why yes, let's keep doing exactly what I told everyone to stop doing in the first place, that will completely solve the situation." Vincent said. Honestly, does anyone in this household learn anything, anything at all?

"He keeps starting it." Sebastian sighed.

"I legitimately could not care who started what, but I do think we should let Alois sit here and have a panic attack while I think up a way for you two to stop hating each other." Vincent said.

Vincent shared a mexican stand off of glares coming from both Ciel and Sebastian. Both glares, were directed at Vincent who was not an innocent auspistice in this situation. Oh no, despite Vincent's constant urge to cure the fighting between Ciel and Sebastian it was never for their own sake. Vincent's intentions were not those of peace but rather his intentions were that he wanted a single fucking second of peace and quiet. A single of moment of quiet that Vincent would surely never see again unless he managed to quell the never-ending volcano eruption of rage and hatred that was the relationship of Sebastian and Ciel's relationship. Sebastian hated Ciel and thought he was a haughty little prick, which Vincent had to admit was true. Ciel hated Sebastian because he thought he was an uppity, moralistic jackass, which Vincent also had to admit was true. The truth in their complaints however, did not make their complaining any less irritating, and so Vincent did not give a damn about the truth in it, he just wanted the both of them to shut the hell up.

"I'm not asking." Vincent said as he pretty much marched the both of them back into the basement for what would surely be round two of _'blood shed thursdays'_.

"I think you two should kiss and make up." Vincent said.

"No." Sebastian was the first to complain, though Ciel was well on his way with a resounding_ 'hell no, not in this single life time'_ before Vincent interrupted him.

"And why the refusal?"

"He looks underage."

"That didn't stop you earlier." Vincent pointed out, reminding Sebastian once again of how easy it was for him to hurt Alois. He had agreed to doing that so easily, and it'd be hypocritical for Sebastian to make the same protest again, to an action he had already done willingly.

"I don't want his cheap lipstick on my mouth." Sebastian complained.

"I don't want him ruining my nice lipstick." Ciel said. He was not wearing 'cheap lipstick' but rather a combination of mac's dubonnet matte lipstick applied in the center of his lips and then blended outwards using a nude colored lipgloss from some other bland because mac's lip glasses are sticky, sheer, and get caught in the creases.

"Enough. The both of you are going to shut up and do this." Vincent said.

Sebastian and Ciel glared at each other here is the point where someone would probably write them out of character and write something like, oh I don't know, Sebastian and Ciel looked into each others glowing orbs lustfully. Sebastian petrified wood shade of brown mixed with Ciel's cerulean aqua marine as the fruit desire between them grew from the seeds of hatred and repulsion. Limpid tears welled up in the corners of Ciel's eyes for no actual reason as they shared the gaze of lovers intimately while they mixed saliva, their germs flowing into each others in a brazen display of affection as Vincent watched them voyeuristically, licking his lips in anticipation. The black coated man twisted tongues with the young delightfully dandy demon in a romantic display of unresolved sexual tension and ten thousand other played-out tropes.

But that's totally not what happened at all, and anyone who says otherwise is probably a very shitty writer who read the canon of Kuroshitsuji... What actually happened is that Sebastian nearly had to kneel on he ground and hold position that tested his thighs muscles in order for Ciel to reach his mouth. Ciel ruffled Sebastian's well kept hair on purpose, yanking on it hard and holding it tight. Sebastian fumbled around, the cheap lace on Ciel's corset itched his hands and the position became equally uncomfortable for the both of them. When their lips finally met, they kissed in the same way you might kiss your grandmother at Christmas dinner, and Ciel only touched Sebastian long enough to bite down down hard on his lower lip and purposefully draw blood. When he pulled away, strands of Sebastian;s hair slipped through his fingers where he yanked a small amount of it out before.

"That was unpleasant." Sebastian said.

"I feel like I just licked the bottom of an ashtray dredged from the wreck of the Titanic." Ciel said.

"Well that's all on you, because I don't smoke your stupid clove cigarettes." Sebastian complained. Ciel was a connoisseur of shitty clove cigarettes, because all young babybat goths loves smoking cloves. For that fact, so did hipsters of all ages, but it was mostly young goths that would suck down the ash and tar fumes of a clove because they thought it would make them look edgy. That, and the black djarum blacks matched all of Ciel's outfit.

"Enough!" Vincent yelled raising both hands and smacking them both in the back of the head simultaneously.

"He's an awful prick and no threesome is going to make him palateable." Ciel said.

"Ciel... shut up. How can you expect to keep a boyfriend that you don't have handcuffed to your bed if you don't learn how to romance someone."

"Vincent, you picked a sad sap off the street, put him in expensive clothes and gave him some eyeliner. Polished rocks are still rocks."

"Don't start policing my morals just because one of my dreams in life is to take a sheltered roman catholic priest boy and turn him in wanton slut. I shouldn't have to explain how awesome that is to you." Vincent said.

"Really, you're getting me to play innocent here?" Sebastian asked.

"You were basically the twenty eight year old virgin, Sebastian. If you weren't homeless I'm sure we would have found a drawer of used socks." Vincent told him.

"Oh come on, during your entire marriage with Rachel you were not only faithful her, but you never once had sex with her except to conceive a new shell for my soul." Ciel said.

"It was fifteen years of long nights with my hand and a bottle of astroglide. You can see why I've been on edge with you Sebastian. Fifteen years without sex. Fifteen. Years."

"I was planning to take a life long vow of celibacy."

"And aren't you glad that I talked you out of it?" Vincent asked him.

"Worship in the house of Phantomhive is so much more fun than church ever was."

"Damn straight it is." Vincent said, but there was nothing straight about what went on in the house of Phantomhive.

When Vincent kissed Sebastian, it was actually pretty damn nice. Where Ciel was a clumsy asshole who didn't try to do anything but snark at him on lip-on-lip mode and bite him, Vincent managed to do all of that while being charming. Ciel wasn't charming, he was just an insufferable little prick. It could be said that what Sebastian perceived of Vincent to be charm was the same insufferable prickness that Ciel had. Sebastian's perception of Vincent was just clouded by how infatuated he was with Vincent, so that everything Vincent did more or less made him swoon even if Vincent was also being a horrid person. Vincent was most likely an even more horrid person, who had done even worse things, but still Sebastian found himself enthralled in his affections. If Vincent told him to something, Sebastian would do it and do so eagerly, not because of his moral convictions, and Sebastian no longer really found it in himself to question Vincent.

He just wanted to make Vincent happy, which is something Sebastian excelled in. He took pride in knowing that he had managed to be the sick demented fantasy of someone who was probably using him solely to ease his loneliness. He knew that there were a thousand other bachelors Vincent could have picked but instead, Sebastian was the lucky one. Sebastian got the honor of standing by Vincent's side as loyal servant of sorts and it never once crossed his mind for more than a second that it might just be little fucked up of him to enjoy this so much. Yet, he didn't care, because this was the most special and loved he ever felt in his life and Sebastian would do anything if he could make this feeling last forever. It was lucky for him, that in Vincent's warm and loving arms, that every second passed by felt like an eternity wrapped up safely in darkness's protective blanket.

"See, Ciel I don't understand why you think it's so difficult to like Sebastian. I think he's perfect."

"Alois is better."

"He won't be anymore, I ruined him for you."

"Alois is like fine japanese pottery, the cracks are part of the charm."

"He's more cracked than Lindsay Lohan."

"Sebastian is more repressed than Alois's memories of his childhood abuse."

"That was uncalled for." Sebastian said.

"Not really." Vincent told him. "It's kind of true."

"You are extremely repressed." Ciel said.

"I was raised_ catholic._"

"I was born in 1845 but you don't see me acting so repressed. You think it's hard growing up catholic, you try living in the age before the internet existed. It was horrible. People actually had to _pay_ for porn back then." Vincent complained.

"Like you didn't steal it." Ciel reminded him.

"That was one time. One time." Vincent said. Though, Ciel remembered one time from one hundred and thirty years ago, and that couldn't have made him happier. His best friend was there, even if he was a petulant little prick, he wouldn't have him another way.

Now it was time for the two of them to find something to do with Sebastian, a team effort of sorts. The agreement between the two friends was unspoken and unanimous. Sebastian could see the glances shared between those two, and he knew he was caught in the trap of two very evil demons. Or perhaps they weren't very evil at all, they were just bored; and as we all know, the line between boredom and evil is thin and all-to-easily crossed. Ciel and and Vincent bore the identical sadistic smirks and Sebastian sighed and conceded wordlessly as Vincent stripped him. It wouldn't do him any good to say anything, because he didn't want to and even if he wanted to, he wouldn't get a single thing he asked for. At least not without letting Vincent getting his way first. Vincent put Sebastian onto the blood stained table that Alois strapped to but he didn't the restraints. Unlike the rebellious young man, Sebastian was eager and willing to please, he might have also been very stupid.

"Lay on your stomach." Vincent told him. Sebastian turned over and laid on the table stomach face down. He cringed as Alois's filthy blood got all over his lily white skin. He had to bend his legs and skim the front of his foot on the floor of the basement for comfort.

"You're evil." Ciel said, he knew what Vincent was thinking of doing.

"Oh please, Sebastian_ likes_ pain." Vincent said. He wasn't going to feel bad at all for inflicting him with it, and if anything, they'd both be enjoying themselves more.

"It's true." Sebastian said. "Can you tie me up?"

"No, I want you to behave yourself and sit still." Vincent said before thwacking Sebastian on the arse with his ring hand. Sebastian hissed out.

It took Vincent five seconds to grab his bottle of lube and start fingering Sebastian, who tried laying there obediently. As if he was being cued up for his lines, he cried there, making little noises that only Vincent knew he translation of. Sebastian worked in mysterious ways, and while Ciel could not see the appeal in the sub's wanton murmuring, Vincent found it endearing. Every cry only increased his addiction to hear more and more pleas coming from Sebastian's throat. Please oh please, and he'd surely receive exactly what he wanted, and only because Vincent wanted so badly to give it to him. Vincent had decided that since Sebastian was being so gracious tonight, he'd get a special treat. Vincent curled up inside of Sebastian, who thrashed around. That got him a smack that would surely bruise, and Ciel was now holding Sebastian down as he cried out.

"Oh, is this getting to be a bit much?" Vincent asked. Sebastian shook his defiantly, but he knew it was.

"You are evil." Ciel repeated.

"He loves it." Vincent said, pulling out two fingers and roughly replacing them with three. Sebastian howled underneath them as Vincent stretched him apart.

"Are you alright, Sebastian?" Vincent asked, chuckling to himself, adding in a fourth finger as Sebastian whined undereath him. He was now inside of him past the knuckles, and slowly Vincent slid his entire hand inside, causing Sebastian to cry out. Though really, he had done an excellent job, and he was such a lovely and satisfying sub. Ciel didn't give him nearly enough credit, had that been Alois, he wouldn't have been able to take it. Sebastian had difficulties at first, but he was always so compliant, Vincent really have to reprimand him or make thing any more painful then they already were.

"Yes..." Sebastian whined, even though he very clearly was not fine. His legs shook and he was having trouble holding on to the table as Vincent pushed him past his limits. If Ciel was not pressing down on his back to hold him down, he would have fallen right off the table.

"Really, because you're whimpering like a pathetic bitch. That doesn't sound very fine to me at all, actually. I don't think you can take it." Vincent said, moving his hand out.

"No, please." Sebastian begged. Vincent knew he wanted to come, but he wasn't going to let him. At least not yet, he had his fun earlier.

"Please what?" Vincent asked him.

"Please don't stop." Sebastian whined again.

"Sebastian hush. Stop being so melodramatic." Vincent scolded him as he pulled his hand out. Sebastian gasped and whined.

"What now? You've ruined him for yourself." Ciel mocked Vincent.

"Oh you of little faith. Let go of him." Vincent said.

Ciel released Sebastian whose gelatin legs made him crumple to the basement floor in a heap of unsatisfied, teased-up flesh. Vincent and Ciel both laughed in response to seeing him so spent up, and they weren't even close to being done with him yet. Sebastian twitched on the floor as Vincent pulled him up by his shoulders. He was limp and all too trusting in Vincent's arms. Vincent sat down on the table and pulled Sebastian onto his lap so he was facing him, Sebastian's leg wrapped around Vincent's waists and his arms wrapped around his neck. It was just all too easy for Vincent slide inside of him now that he was all wrecked from the inside out. Vincent gave Sebastian a kiss on the cheek and Ciel huffed, feeling a sickness coming on.

"You two make me sick." he said.

"Join us." Vincent told him, and Ciel sighed. If he can't beat them, might as well join them. Vincent laid back on the table, spreading Sebastian's legs uncomfortably to the sides of the table and holding him close to his chest. Ciel climbed on the table and kneeled over Sebastian. Sebastian was now just becoming aware of their little plan and Ciel pressed against him back and trapped him efficiently as the meat in the Phantomhive sandwich and pressed his cock inside of Sebastian's ass. It did not slide in as easily as Vincent's and Ciel didn't bother taking the time to grab the lubricant, he just sort of forced himself in, knowing that he was probably hurting him. Gentle was Vincent's thing, not his.

"Ow...please..." Sebastian gasped and struggled between them, this was too intense for him, but he could not get out of their grasp. He was firmly stuck between them as they both moved in and out of him. They did not seem to care that he was in pain.

"Is that a good ow, or a bad one?" Vincent asked, though he did not stop. Sebastian gripped Vincent's hair and screamed against him. Vincent stroked his hair as they both sped up, ignoring his discomfort.

"It hurts!" Sebastian cried.

"Of course it hurts love, we're both inside of you, did you think it would be painless?"

"I can't take this..." Sebastian whined. He tried breaking out of Vincent's embrace but that only earned him Ciel's pointed nails raking down his back, cutting him open and hurting him more.

"Pleeease." Sebastian begged.

"Hush, you wanted to be filled, didn't you?"

"But this hurts so much." Sebastian cried. Vincent held him tight enough so that even as his whole body shook he could not move very much at all. Normally this kind of closeness would have been appreciated, were it not being used as a way to harm him.

"Shut up and take it." Ciel clawed at him again, even still Sebastian struggled between hem, trying to get them to let go of him, even knowing that there was no way he could make it end.

"Please, you're hurting me." Sebastian begged. He tried so desperately to appeal to the part of Vincent hat didn't want him to suffer, but Vincent smacked him anyways. As much as he whined again and again, Vincent would never let harm come to him. He could cry all he wanted, Vincent knew Sebastian was is no danger, he just needed to know how to take a little more pain. He had been overly indulgent towards his new pet, anyways.

"Stop struggling like that unless you want to hurt a whole lot more." He threatened and Sebastian let out a sob, his tears fell against Vincent chest as he cried in his arms. Sebastian laid there limp like a doll as they both finished, he could barely move at all without pain shooting up his spine.

Ciel climbed off him no problem and went back upstairs, surely for the purposes of tormenting Alois. Vincent laid on the table, holding onto Sebastian, knowing that he couldn't get up by himself. Sebastian continued crying even though they were finished with him for the night, or at least he hoped they were. He let Vincent stroke his hair and back without complaint, even as his finger tips brushed across the places where Ciel clawed him up. He was more quiet, now that the torment had ended but the sounds of clear discontent were obvious to Vincent, who sat up with Sebastian in his arms, the sudden movement made him gasp out in pain.

"Shuuush." Vincent told him. Sebastian whined even as Vincent carried him upstairs like, a sad, whimpering pet and sat him on the bathroom counter. Sebastian groaned, sitting was now his worst enemy.

"You should really learn to do this yourself." Vincent told him as he cleaned the blood and other fluids off of Sebastian's body, and then banadaged his cuts.

"Maybe you should lay off my back where I can't reach it." Sebastian said, earning him a smack on the cuts.

"Don't complain. You get to live." Vincent said, Sebastian quickly remembered who he was dealing with and kept himself quiet as Vincent carried him back into the master bedroom. Sebstian wondered if it was the wrong time to tell Vincent that he felt tender, loving feelings towards him. Hedecided that it must have been, and so, he said nothing.

Vincent pushed Sebastian over in his bed and laid under he covers with him. He told himself time and time again that he wouldn't let Sebastian's cries have so much power over him. Had they been alone, he may have stopped then and there, and never pushed Sebastian into doing something he was ambivalent towards. Yet, Ciel did bring out the worst in him, as he was was practically made from the worst of him to begin with. Sebastian seemed like he would be fine, it was just a shock to his normally sheltered system. There was nothing to worry about at all, even as Sebastian shivered in his arms, Vincent just guessed it was because he was cold. After all, he loved Sebastian so very much and he wouldn't dare run from him, he wouldn't think of it. Vincent wrapped his arm around Sebastian and pulled him into a hug, letting him cry against him before he fell asleep. When he knew nobody would know, Vincent kissed him on the forehead.

* * *

To research to see if the contents of this chapter were physically possible (and I discovered- yes they are) I discovered a site called dirtygardengirl._ NO, IT IS __**NOT **__ABOUT GARDENING! _Trust me if you don't know what it is you are better off not knowing. But if you want to know, do NOT google that unless you are: alone in a room, not eating, and not opposed to watching something that walks the line between torture porn and just flat-out torture. I had a hard time sleeping after watching a single 1:30 minute long video of theirs. Like, between this and a snuff film a friend sent me of someone actually getting legit-whipped in a russian prison camp, I'd say this was actually more sadistic. I just want to let you all know that I looked at some pretty mind-scarring shit for you people. That was one minute and thirty seconds of extreme sadomasochism burned into my retinas FOR ALL TIME.


	10. flesh to give away

"Good morning." Vincent was beaming happily in the kitchen, enjoying his morning coffee and a book to himself. He was already fully dressed and ready to go for the day. Sebastian limped slowly into the kitchen with his shirt off and sat in the chair next to him, wincing as his ass hit the seat.

"Ughhh..." Sebastian groaned.

"I am so hungover right now," Ciel complained. He slumped over and smacked his forehead against the kitchen table, letting out a hiss in pain. It did not help his headache.

"Let me guess, you continued your evening?" Vincent asked.

Ciel had continued that night, in fact he was at it with Alois until around two hours ago where he took a nap. The nap was really more for Alois's benefit than Ciel's, for if he didn't get a little break here and there, what Ciel did might actually kill him. Well, there was a pretty high chance that Ciel might kill him anyways, considering how rough he could be; but in the very least, it wouldn't have been intentional. No, Alois was to be kept alive, at least until people started looking for him and considering that Ciel was currently the only living person who'd care to come looking for a run away Alois, there was little to no chance that Alois would be getting away. He might be stuck up in Ciel's bedroom for years on end, begging for the death. That would be the least cruel thing to happen to him, if he were to die. Ciel knows this because he begged for it last night and Ciel refused to indulge him. To be fair here, even after all the horrible things that Ciel did to Alois, he was still nicer to him than his ex-boyfriend, Claude.

"Why, did you two actually go to sleep?" Ciel asked, looking at Vincent and Sebastian and then sighing quite loudly. "You are sickening."

"You better watch it Ciel. I can legally get married to Sebastian now, so you might end up having to call him daddy the next time you fuck him." Vincent warned him.

"You disgust me!" Ciel groaned, taking his tea and stomping out of the room. He easiest way for Vincent to make Ciel leave the room in a huffy was to remind him sarcastically that his whole thing with Sebastian really wasn't a punishment for Ciel anymore.

"Would you really marry me?" Sebastian asked.

"If you wear the dress." Vincent joked around. It wasn't the answer Sebastian wanted to hear. Sebastian was, some how, hoping for a serious answer. Even if it wasn't the one he wanted to hear. They sat in awkward silence eating breakfast until Vincent broke the ice between them.

"I'm going out to dinner with my ex tonight." he said.

"What?" Sebastian stifled his choking on coffee to stare up at Vincent incredulously.

"He asked me out."

"You're going on a date with someone else?" Sebastian asked.

"A _friend _date, we're just friends. Besides, he is a demon too so I doubt that you want to stay up all night hunting down and killing bitches. Unless you'd like to come with us."

"No thank you."

"Oh, have I exhausted your thirst for blood?" Vincent asked.

"I am not blood thirsty." Sebastian said, clearly in denial over he fact that he totally gets off at watching other people suffer. Alright, so he did also get off on Vincent making him suffer, but that was a special deal between the two of them. Only Vincent's sexual torment could be arousing for Sebastian, torment by anyone else just wasn't romantic enough to get him off. Sebastian could sya that he was primarily a bottom, until he saw someone as helpless as Alois. Then of course, every single fiber of being screamed all out once 'destroy him!'. Sebastian complied so easily to his will to harm Alois that it was hardly even a choice so much that it was a compulsion, a pathological need, to see Alois suffer and to see him bleed.

"Liar." Vincent told him, getting uncomfortably close, close enough to remind Sebastian that one of his favorite things in life was drawing blood. His own or others were equally acceptable.

"Do I at least get to meet him?" Sebastian asked, changing the subject quickly.

"I guess. He said he wants to meet you but he can a little... fierce." Vincent said. Fierce was a bit of an understatement, his ex boyfriend was practically a rabid german shepard. Thankfully, not literally though that would be a less embarrassing explanation for the bite shaped scar Vincent had on his ass.

"I'm sure he can't be as bad as Ciel is." Sebastian said.

"You have me there." Vincent admitted. Ciel was he most ill tempered person Vincent had ever met, perhaps even out-tempering Diderich, though admittedly not by much. Ciel still held the gold medal, but Diderich scored second place with silver. It was a loser's game though, for any medal in the field of bastard-ing still meant they were difficult to deal with. Vincent was just gifted in that he could deal with just about anyone, and win any game. It's kind of his thing. Whether or not he uses he demon powers to get ahead, well, that is another story entirely.

Diderich was someone that was intimidating to everyone who wasn't Vincent, and only because Vincent was the only man who was actually more frightening than Diderich. When they were together, hey made up a wall of handsome, but terrifying, man flesh. So when Sebastian opened the door to the Phantomhive household to look up at this tall, dark haired and well-dressed man, he felt more than a little bit inadequate. Sebastian was a small, bony twink who looked like he couldn't lift a large stack of papers and was better left off to the twinkie nerd factory from once he came. Diderich looked like under his designer suit was enough muscle that he could pick up Sebastian and throw him through a brick wall, and that did not even account for his demon powers.

"Is Vincent home?" The door of course, opened by itself because Diderich did not need an invitation to walk in, but he felt like searching around the house while Vincent's butler was there could be considered of bad taste. Sebastian was wiping a mirror in the hall way clean with rubbing alcohol until he greeted Diderich at the door way like a polite butler-slash-boyfriend should.

"Yes, I'll go fetch him for you," Sebastian said. Diderich didn't know what Vincent saw in this scrawny man. Sebastian would count all of the things that Diderich had that he didn't, but that would mean Sebastian would have to count everything that ever was.

"Hey Dee, ready to paint the town red?" Vincent joked. Of course, that could either mean he wanted to paint the town red as in show them romance between two demons, or that Diderich and Vincent were going to literally paint the town red with the blood of the innocent. It was the latter option, though that didn't stop Sebastian from jealously staring Diderich down. Immortality be damned, if he touched his man, Sebastian would peck his eyes out like a psychotic, possessive crow from the depths of hell itself. Vincent was dressed nicely for the date too, he even kept the top three buttons of his collared shirt unbuttoned, that suave bastard.

"Absolutely." Diderich said, taking Vincent by the arm and they walked off, closing the door behind them and leaving Sebastian there in a rage.

"Let's be honest here, it really wouldn't surprise me that Vincent would completely forget about you the second you dropped off the mortal coil and went along with him, instead." Ciel said. He was, as he always was while not having sex, dressed up like a tart. Though this time, he was iexplicably dressed like even more than a tart, as he wore short, puffy bloomers with a leather spiked garter belt over it attached (uselessly) to torn fishnets with little gay bows on them, and a casual, cropped black tank top with a hexagram printed on it in silver glitter, along with a collar that had roses and spikes on it.

"You look horribly dressed, as usual. Did creepy yeha have a clearance sale on her cheaply made and poorly sewn garters?" Sebastian asked the pastel goth night mare.

"Of course not. I, unlike you and like everyone else, happen to have a date tonight, and that date likes it when I look cute." Ciel said.

"You are the least cute person on this planet, no poorly made dollar store roses can save you."

"Says the man that will be alone for the rest of the night." Ciel reminded him before walking out the door like the sassy like prick that he was.

Vincent and Diderich were enjoying themselves in the most new and exclusive club they could think of. People had been lining up to get into that club for the past two weeks and it had only opened up two nights prior. They walked right to the front of the line, and past the bouncer without trouble at all while a crowd of boozed and botoxed up bitches stood behind them, whining about unfairness the entire way. They were all under premise that five hundred thousand dollars worth of plastic surgery could keep the terrible twos of the evil lord time and the diabolical commodore gravity at bay. There is no stopping the inevitable age from lavishing your face, unless you happen to be a demon. Then of course, that's basically giving time and gravity two middles fingers up. Vincent and Diderich mingled perfectly with the hot super models and left the aging prostimoms in the alley way.

"I wonder how long it takes them to approach us..." Vincent sighed.

"Throw your wallet in the air, once they see the money raining down those bitches will come running." Diderich said flatly, stirring at his vodka and tonic with a bright pink bendy straw. It was primarily ice, anyways, since all of these clubs cut their liquor with ice and charged the same price as a full bottle.

"You're in a cynical mood, babe."

"Don't even start with that." Diderich warned Vincent, his mood turned from hopeful to sour the second he saw that Vincent's black haired choir boy from heaven was at the door.

"What?"

"You kept him alive. What was that about you saying that you weren't ready to move on after Rachel? And then I see him there, like you were just joking."

"Hey, I _was_ serious about that," Vincent said, putting an emphasis that Diderich did not pay attention to on the word 'was'.

"I want to leave," Diderich said, looking over his shoulder. He seemed upset and distant, even though he sounded like he was actually excited about this earlier.

Vincent sighed in response, following Diderich out of the club as he crudely pushed people aside. They left smelling like smoke and cheap floozies but weren't there long enough to enjoy either of those things. His mood swing was sort of killing the rush of the night ahead of them. It had started off on a high note, because hey, Vincent hadn't seen him in a long time. Now the note had turned flat, Diderich was being a ridiculous drama queen and getting upset over things he seemed excited about. Vincent would have rather just gone out by himself, at least then he'd have something to do. Now he was following behind a pissed off, power-walking Diderich who lit a cigarette as he walked, quickly tossing the match behind him not caring if it hit Vincent and burned a small hole in his shirt.

"Just what did I do to piss you off?" Vincent asked, for normally he would have been teasing Diderich and they'd playfully argue, now there wasn't anything there between them. This was not their usual friendly encounter, if anything, he was being more hostile than usual.

"Nothing." Diderich said.

"So help me," Vincent threatened. He was not going to play the 'whats wrong? nothing' game with Diderich tonight.

"I'm just irritable because I'm hungry," Diderich lied, his lie was thinly veiled at his best. Vincent took it, and they both knew that he only accepted the lie to shut him up.

Empathy wasn't really a trait found in demons, though the mechanics of empathy were well and alive, eventually they learned to swallow up the proof of the reactions. Even if the brain sent out the signal to cry, the response could be fought off. Like the self-immolation of the Tibetan monks as a form of protest so their culture may survive, the demons set anything inside themselves that may betray their goals of survival alight. Nothing remains inside the hollow vessel except cinders, unless they forgot to light the match or to use it all. Vincent as a human had always believed himself beyond the rules of society and expectations. Vincent Phantomhive doesn't follow the law because he has no need for the law, he can live without the protection of civilized society. Vincent Phanthomive does not sleep because the need for sleep is below him. He rarely eats, because the need to live is below him. Everything is below him, all needs, all ideas, all expectations, fall beneath his ambition. So while a fire was what set him onto the path of immortality, he certainly had no need for fire ever again.

"How pathetic." Diderich said, examining his arms, where he had expected there to be some signs of fight from the dead college student below him. There was none, she had been typically complacent. Once here was no promise of living, they seemed to give up, not even fight back, and accept their fate in his jaws with a kind of listless apathy of not even valuing their lives in the first place.

"They fight back less and less these days. Now, they'll just lay there and take it. It's not even fun to kill them any more, where is the challenge?" Diderich complained.

"As they say, killers are getting prettier every day." Vincent joked around, wiping the blood off Diderich's mouth with his silk handkerchief. He scowled in response and grabbed Vincent's wrist, pulling him closer.

"No, just you." Diderich said before kissing Vincent on the lips. Vincent pulled away from his grip and stood up, immediately walking away from him.

"What the hell, Vincent?" Diderich asked, following behind him, grabbing Vincent by the shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Vincent told him, swatting his hand away.

"You never seemed to mind it before, why the sudden coldness?" Diderich asked.

"Did you come here just to try and get me to fuck you? Is that what you want to be, my loyal pet? Then why don't you respect the fact that I don't want your kind of loyalty when I've made it clear to you that I'm romantically bonded to someone else."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I am not kidding you. I love Sebastian, I am committed to Sebastian. I'm not going to fool around with my best friend behind his back."

"You disgust me." Diderich said.

"Why? Because I'm not hollow like you?" Vincent asked.

"Because you think you can have everything, and you always fuck it over and I end up having to come back to you every time that you do."

"I do as I please, and I'm pleased to be done with you." Vincent said.

Vincent was out of Diderich's line of sight before his rage-induced lack of vision subsided enough to have him follow Vincent. Diderich guessed that Vincent probably went back home to his unimpressive human pretty boy. Truthfully, he had never for the life of him had been able to successfully navigate new york city. Sure, it was set up as a grid but that did not make it easy. For the long lines of street after street made it so hat you could walk down the same street for miles, going in the wrong direction, looking for an intersection that grew even more distant. This was further complicated by the system of buses going in one direction, the metro in the other, and the schedules between them never lining up. Indeed, it was only a system that Vincent Phantomhive could manage to make work in his favor. He always had some way of working things into his favor.

Sebastian got bored and lonely more easily than he should have. His two friends were too busy running the shop to have Sebastian stop by to hang around, and his boy friend was off somewhere with a man that made him look pathetic and haggard. No wonder why he was alone, if anyone had the choice between spending time with him and Vincent's sexy, aloof, friend they'd pick Diderich in a heart beat. Sebastian really didn't have much going on in his life outside of his work, spending time with Vincent, and then occasionally hanging around with Agni and Soma. There was a big span of _'what the hell do I even do with my life' _timethat was vacated when his life had turned him out into a new world that was unfamiliar to him. He had grown to crave the structure and the questionless obedience of his school, of his church, of his aspirations, that once he was given a choice he didn't know how to make one. He had grown so used to his schedule that now there wasn't anything written down for him to do, he didn't know how to think up anything. He was somewhat useless wen it came to being creative. He could follow orders without thought, but he could not order himself to do anything.

Tonight, he had grabbed one of Vincent's books, one that Sebastian thought was tasteless in it's representation of violence and sexuality, but he read it because he had nothing better to do. The house was spotless and if he cleaned anymore, he would have surely worn down every thing in the house. He could have checked to see if Ciel's hostage was still alive, but he decided that he didn't want to, and by all means, boredom was better than putting himself anywhere near Ciel's business. This terrible book was better than dealing with Ciel's business, but barely. Sebastian couldn't sleep, he thoughts were hitting the flat line but his body was wide awake and refused to settle itself down into sleep waves. He thought of going somewhere, but where to guys go alone at night? Surely even if he did try to meet a new friend, they'd probably be the kind of unscrupulous person that was hanging around at 2AM and not the less likely bored person who was really, really bored and followed a nocturnal schedule.

Vincent came home earlier than he expected and found Sebastian frosting a cake in the kitchen at 2:30 AM. He had no idea why Sebastian was in the kitchen, or why he had decorated the cake with such detail. Vincent was so glad to see him that he really didn't care to ask. He just wrapped his arms around Sebastian's torso while he was still busy. He didn't bother announcing his arrival home, he just sneak ed behind Sebastian like a silent ninja in the night, the demonic cuddle elder god grabbed a hold of Sebastian in his python-like grip. He never wanted to let go of Sebastian, even as he grasped nervously, only to realize that Vincent was just being weird, even by Vincent standards, and actually cuddling him in a totally platonic and normal way. Of course, his grip could have snapped Sebastian in half, but his attentions were purely affectionate.

"Vincent, what the hell." Sebastian said. He was trying to frost a cake but, now he couldn't move his arms.

"Sssh... no words now." Vincent said.

* * *

Did you know that my word processing program's auto-correct always has this fucked up (and irritating) tendency to auto-correct Diderich into 'didgeridoo'? BECAUSE IT DOES. This would be hilarious if it wasn't so fucking annoying.

So QUESTIONS for YOU GUYS:

1. What do you think I could do to improve my smut-writing ways? Throw me al your suggestions and critique, for it would be extremely helpful for me.

2. Would you like a spin off fic for Ciel and Alois? I'm only writing 13 chapters for this story so I won't have enough space to write some more cray cray Ciel/Alois action, so if you think it's something worth writing more of- do say so! Or critique the idea. It would basically be the premise of ch. 8 plus like, more with Ciel and Alois and argueably darker than his story. As always, the feedback I get from you helps me improve the stories I write and my improvements makes them more fun for you to read. When you critique, it's a win win situation, and it benefits both you and me.


	11. pure empathy, impure sadism

_I saw you with him._  
_You looked so happy._  
_All of that can change, cause I am so lonely_  
_And I have lots of time to send you straight_  
_To the Devil._  
_I'm taking my time_  
_To plan your demise._

_What if I were to cut you up and mail each part_  
_To a different town?_  
_It would take the most_  
_Brilliant private eye the rest of his life_  
_Just to put you together._  
_A piece in each mailbox all over the planet_  
_From Moscow to Tokyo to Guadalajara._

_I wait for the day when I'll finally defile_  
_The bodies of my ex lover's lovers._  
_I'll pile high to the sky_  
_The bodies of my ex lover's lovers_  
_I wait for the day when I'll finally destroy_  
_The bodies of my ex lover's lovers._  
_I'll pile high to the sky_  
_The bodies of my ex lover's lovers_  
_Die die die die die die_  
_Watch them die_

_-Voltaire, "Ex-lovers Lovers"_

"Vincent," Sebastian said as Vincent clung to him like a demonic koala bear. Vincent was unresponsive and was just enjoying his hug longer than any man should rationally enjoy a hug. It was as if he never wanted to let go of Sebastian, but Sebastian had shit to do. There was this cake all up in front of him, and it needed to be finished, Sebastian's artistic vision in icing had to be realized.

"Vincent. I need to finish this cake," Sebastian told him.

"Fiiiiine," Vincent groaned as he let go of Sebastian, "Do I at least get some cake?"

"Yes. I figured you'd probably need the sugar boast after you were gone all night with that man," Sebastian said in the most backhanded way he could muster. For a second he pretended that he was Ciel and said whatever he'd imagine Ciel would say in order to make himself sound like an even worse prick, just like Ciel.

"Whoa. What is_ that _comment supposed to mean?" Vincent asked. He was not impressed by Sebastian's implying that he was cheating on him. Which he wasn't. Which he would never, ever do, and Vincent didn't even cheat on Rachel when they were married and that marriage was a sham. As far as loyalty track records, Vincent was pretty good with keeping up with them.

"You were out all night with a man who is better looking than me, who you have dated previously to myself, who happens to be immortal like you are, and you also smell like alcohol, blood and whatever strong scent he was wearing earlier." Sebastian told him.

"So you immediately think that I had sex with him."

"I won't make a fuss if you did," Sebastian told him.

"How boring, here I was thinking that I'd see you pick up your bottle of holy water and try to banish Diderich from my ass," Vincent joked.

"You're not funny," Sebastian said as he glared Vincent down. Vincent would have been intimated by those fierce red-brown eyes if he didn't think he could take Sebastian in a fist fight, and to be honest, anyone could. The man was an academic, and really lacked any decent muscle tone, and any tone he did have was all show with no real power.

"If it proves to you that I am completely serious and trustworthy, Diderich did try to kiss me but then I told him that he was pissing me off because I'm with you. He was pissed as hell. It would have been terrifying if I didn't know that he'd never dare raise a hand to me."

"And how do you know?"

"Sebastian please, I am the King of Broken Hearts," Vincent said. He grabbed a plate out of the cabinets and the very second that Sebastian was finished with carefully icing the details onto the last jonny-jump-up, he was faced with Vincent looking at him like a child begging his mom for a slice of cake after dinner. Sebastian sighed and sliced into his newly finished masterpiece. Oh, he didn't even get to enjoy the victorious feeling he got after icing the perfect cake.

"Did you at least spoon Diderich in the pale moonlight while you broke off any chances he had with you?" Sebastian asked, as Vincent ate his slice of cake.

"Hell no. He can go spoon himself," Vincent said, raising his fork and waving it around like the psychotic homicidal manic he really was as he talked.

"Hey, Sebastian considering that I didn't get laid tonight and you're so bored that you baked a cake, do you want to have some sex?"

And ask no more! For as if he was a succubus summoned by a spell copy-pasted from 4chan's /x/ board, Sebastian appeared before Vincent. Sebastian sat on the counter, trying to pry himself between Vincent and the moist cake that was occupying his mouth- a space which Sebastian considered his own. His obvious enthusiasm was exactly what Vincent needed after the depressing and agitating occurrence with Diderich. Every single kiss Sebastian gave him was like a dose of xanex to relax his mind after a certain german dog went and jostled it. Thankfully, Sebastian wasn't a succubus, and that made him pretty easy to please.

"Can I finish the cake?" Vincent asked.

"No." Sebastian told him, taking the fork and plate from Vincent and setting on the table.

"Uggh... I _eat _on that counter." Ciel groaned as he walked into the kitchen and washed the blood on his hands with the dish detergent and grabbed the bottle of bleach from underneath the sink.

"Use a fucking plate, then," Vincent told Ciel. Ciel sighed, glared at Sebastian and walked out of the kitchen with the bleach, presumably going back upstairs to his bedroom. Whatever Ciel was going to do with that bleach, it was probably sadastic.

"Don't even start," Vincent warned Sebastian, for he could hear the oncoming rants of Sebastian's, complaining that Ciel was, as Vincent knows this quote from memory, _'a horrible prick who does nothing but ruin the mood for us'_. Which was true, Vincent just wanted to skip the intermission and head straight on to the less-than-straight dickings.

With that perfectly good location ruined for them, Vincent and Sebastian retreated to the one location in the Phantomhive manor that was always a reliable (and Ciel free) place for sexual encounters, Vincent's bedroom. They could have opted for the basement, but this was more of a tender night, and Vincent half suspected they'd just find the half dead remains of Alois Trancy down there anyways. Vincent's room was comfortable and lacked the wafting scent of mildew and human blood permanently stuck in the cracks of the walls and floor. Instead, it smelled a lot more like expensive cigar and lavender aromatherapy candles lit to cover up the tobacco stench.

"Have I ever told you that I love you so much?" Sebastian asked Vincent. Not enough, though Vincent, but he'd never say that.

"You don't really need to. I'm a brilliant, empath. I can feel it." Vincent informed him. Granted, all demons, if given the chance, had extreme empathy. It was an evolutionary mechanism to make sure the boundless killing machines had at least some internal chemical trigger to balance it out when murder felt too good to stop. Most of them just killed it off in themselves by years of self inflicted emotional abuse. Vincent was alive in the inside, just like Sebastian and unlike Diderich.

"I'm not sure if I'm turned on by that, or if I find it really invasive to my privacy. You're not going to watch me while I sleep from outside the windows, are you?" Sebastian asked.

"Only if you'll let me gel my hair into an outdated hair style and wear body glitter." Vincent joked. He was raiding around in a standing wardrobe for something, but got lost in his countless number of suits and fumbled around awkwardly as Sebastian undressed himself.

"Please don't," Sebastian said, "I'll go soft."

"I bet you anything that I could look however I wanted and you wouldn't. I recall that you weren't even that freaked out by the tentacle, and even Diderich flipped his shit about that one." Vincent said, gathering some rope and other things that he was digging out from the dresser. He tossed the items onto his bed.

"Did he really?" Sebastian asked, trying hard not to laugh but failing. He sat on the bed and watched as Vincent grabbed a variety of items, some of which Sebastian had no idea what were meant for. It was actually pretty exciting for him, he was curious to see what would happen.

"He squealed like a little girl, and not even a cute little girl," Vincent said as he untangle the nylon rope in his hands, now regretting his top class knot work. Sebastian laughed obviously, not even trying to hide it, but Vincent grabbed his legs and moved them however he pleased. The rope was coiled around his left thigh then his left ankle. Vincent then tied his left wrist next to his ankle and leg so that Sebastian could neither move his arm or leg from position. Vincent took out another length of the white rope, and repeated it on the right side, this time looping the two junctions of the knots together; so that this time, Sebastian would not also be unable to move his appendages, but he'd be unable from holding the together either. Not that Sebastian would, Vincent just liked the look of him spread out nice like that.

"Oh please, you didn't react that much better. You just had the courtesy not to make references to the movie Alien," Vincent said as he lifted a piece of cloth and tied it around Sebastian's eyes. He then picked up another strip and tried placing in Sebastian's mouth, but Sebastian only whined in response. Vincent lifted his chin with one finger and grabbed his jaw.

"Sebastian," Vincent said. With his other hand his raked his claws down Sebastian's thigh and Sebastian gasped in pain, and while he did so Vincent gagged him tightly and slapped him across the face. "Don't disobey me."

Sebastian whined, and Vincent slapped him again, just because he knew Sebastian liked it and because he couldn't do anything about it anyways. Vincent did want to see Sebastian squirm underneath him in pleasure, and he did want to make him happy, but he also did want to punish him. Which would also make Sebastian very happy. Vincent wanted to test him limits, which he always wanted to, since Vincent always loved getting down into other people's skin. He could feel Sebastian so tense beneath him, as if he was expecting another slap or perhaps something more... sensual. Still, Vincent walked away for a second to retrieve something that was much more fun, and also much more effective at getting under Sebastian's skin. Sebastian make some indecipherable noises as he felt Vincent's body move off of the mattress and heard his foot steps walking around the room.

Vincent pulled out a white box and opened it up. Inside of the box were dozens of rows of tiny, white, sterile disposable needles. The box had several tiers and inside of it were hundreds upon hundreds of pristine needles for Vincent to use. Sebastian could hear Vincent opening something but he could not know what it was, nor could he see the evil smirk on Vincent's face as he uncapped the first needle. As Vincent pinched the skin of his inner thigh, Sebastian was confused until Vincent drove the needle through a few layers of skin and out the other side, having it lay flat against his skin. Sebastian howled through the cloth as the second needle was forced through his skin. Vincent laughed, and forced in another needle, watching Sebastian try to scream when he couldn't. He took perverse satisfaction from seeing Sebastian's hands and ankles shake inside of their rope bonds. Soon enough, Sebastian's screaming had died down in to whimpers, as Vincent had inserted three rows of ten needles on both sides of his inner thighs. Blood from where Vincent forced the needles in too deeply dripped down Sebastian's thighs and unto the bed.

Vincent laughed and slowly ran his fingers over the raised bumps of skin where the needles were inserted. Sebastian let out this whine as Vincent pressed harder and made him suffer. Oh well, that would certainly teach him to disobey, wouldn't it? Vincent let Sebastian sit there quivering as he went to the bathroom to grab some 95% isopropyl alcohol, otherwise known as _'the burny kind'_. Sebastian sat on the bed waiting for Vincent do whatever was next. One by one, Vincent pulled out the needles slowly and methodically and tossed them into his waste bin. As each needle slid out, a droplet of blood clung to Sebastian's skin, each painting an abstract design of drips and rivulets of blood on his thighs. Vincent then took another strip of cloth and soaked it in the alcohol and swiped it against Sebastian's legs. It cleaned as it burned through Sebastian wounds, causing him to let out choked sobs against the cloth gag in his mouth. Vincent untied it from his mouth before Sebastian could start hyperventilating.

"And what did you learn?" Vincent asked Sebastian, who did not respond, ad only gasped for air as he continued to attempt to not-cry by breathing really, really hard. Vincent slapped him again.

"Not to hesitate." Sebastian said quickly.

"Exactly. Now then Sebastian," Vincent said, trailing his pointed nails across the wounds, adding pressure here and there. He watched as Sebastian gasped a little deeper every time he hit one of the sore spots where Vincent had added in the those offending bits of metal. "Will you do that again?"

"N-no." Sebastian said, his tone wavered as he spoke, and was barely able to keep of composure. Had it not been for the tight bonds holding him in place, might have curled up and cried in pain, but now he was forced into a proper posture. He was unable to hide anything, with his bleeding legs spreads wide for Vincent to see everything and though his eyes were covered, Sebastian was still unable to hide his expression of pain, and other assorted and convoluted emotions as well. This of course, was both aesthetically and emotionally pleasing, though for Sebastian it was something else.

"Are you you sure?" Vincent asked Sebastian who nodded in response. Vincent pressed his fingertips to Sebastian's lips gently and Sebastian quickly open his mouth for him to retie the gag in place. He was unwilling to make the same mistake twice.

"And what a shame, really, it seemed like other parts of you really enjoyed this."

Vincent said this, because, as cliché would have it, Sebastian was sporting a ridiculous stiffy despite the horrid and cruel treatment upon his person. One could even say that he was totally aroused by it, and on a scale of one to ten on horniness, he was probably some where between fifty and infinity. Vincent knew this, and bent down to gracefully lick Sebastian from base-to-tip and pull back quick enough to see the look of frustration on his face as Vincent stopped. Vincent then wrapped his fingers around Sebastian's cock but before actually moving them, pulled away again and laughed when Sebastian let a noise out like something of a frustrated grunt. Vincent Phantomhive was a cockteasing bastard and there really wasn't anything Sebastian could do about it.

Sebastian shook in his bonds once again and Vincent erupted with this weird, chain of sadistic laughter as his pet moaned and cried to be touched, or not touched, really, because Vincent would touch him for all of a second and pull away before Sebastian could get any pleasure, much less come from it. Vincent pushed Sebastian onto his back, so now he was tied together, laying down with his legs held together at the same bent position and his arms were firmly pinned to his side by the strong ropes. Vincent crawled over Sebastian, and he enjoyed listening to him whine as he too casually brushed against his erection. Vincent untied the gag from Sebastian's mouth.

"I hate you so much," Sebastian said.

"Wow, what a convincing argument for me to continue."

"Vincent you are evil."

"Yeah, because this is the most evil thing I've ever done. Never mind all the people I have killed over the year, no, teasing you is the worst atrocity I have ever committed. Is me talking about killing people really turning you on? Because that's demented, Sebastian," Vincent said as he stroked Sebastian's thighs. Sebastian let out a moan and Vincent stopped again. Vincent could just wait until Sebastian topped and he'd be getting his just desserts, but in this story, there's not a chance of that happening

"I can make it so much worse than this," Vincent said, and he was entirely sure that threat of his probably didn't threaten Sebastian as much as it excited him.

Somewhere else in New York City, two male demons were sitting inside of a twenty four hour diner near Grand Central station. They were drinking black coffee and one of them was eating a sandwich, which a reluctant waitress worked hard to mark so late at night. Rather, it was closer to morning and it was certain that the sun was about to rise any hour now. Still, the two of them sat and talked and ordered a constant supply of caffeine to satiate them throughout the night. There was one other person who sat in a booth by themselves, and they mumbled noises the two demons could hear distinctly as the incoherent babbling of a mentally ill vagrant.. They ignored them as they drank coffee and plotted something that was unreasonably evil.

"I want him gone," Ciel said. He was dressed like a theater tart straight out of the east village. He wore thigh high stocking, short shorts, and a frilly top and old school kitten heeled boots. Across from him at the table sat a man in a fine tailored suit. To any outsider, it would seem that an older gentleman was propositioning an underage male prostitute who used sex to pay for his designer drug addiction.

"Are you sure that you won't get us killed for fucking with him?" Diderich asked.

"You think Vincent would kill us? You think that Vincent, Mr. Cute and Sentimental, would harm either of us? He's so lonely and bored he'd take you back just because unlike his past two lovers, you're actually living," Ciel said. He knew how lonely Vincent was, he'd never abandon the two people who stood by his side. He needed his best friends, his weak spot was his loneliness, not his current lover. Sebastian couldn't fix the problem, he'd die eventually, he was just a hindrance.

"I'm unsure, he might know that it's us," Diderich trailed off. Ciel sighed and rolled and eyes. Hr reminded Diderich so much of Vincent, even in his mannerisms and his tone. He reminded Diderich of everything that was evil and cruel in Vincent, and he loved it. Diderich was so proud of him.

"We either kill him together or I do it alone, either way the man is going to die, and don't you want the satisfaction of killing the man who stole Vincent from you?"

* * *

When I was writing the blood stuff, I could taste blood in my mouth, and I was like, what the fuck that ain't normal. So I went to the bathroom then I realized that I was having a really fucking horrid bloody nose from the medication I take for my migraines and it was like, dripping down my neck and everything. It was so metal it was blacker than the blackest black times infinity.


	12. impure empathy, pure sadism

_PSA: Be sure to check out "A Family Trip to the Hardware Store". It's dark, it's funny and involves the unconventional use of industrial power tools!_

* * *

Somewhere else in Manhattan, at the address of 666 Park Avenue two dudes were having sex loud enough for people two blocks away in central park to hear it... if the walls weren't sound proofed. Which they were, because as Vincent would know from decades of living in New York City- the walls are never thick enough on their own; and there is no such thing as privacy in any metropolitan area. Unless you live in a house that was built by a rich demon who got rich doing god-doesn't-even-know-what, who had renovated the insides of it to be rather private to the outside world. Vincent was a master of strategy and he knew better than to leave the insides of his house as vintage as the furnishings inside of it. If he didn't, he would have been caught in an instant. Vincent and Sebastian were laying down on Vincent's bed with a deep green bottle of Victorian era champagne from the year that Vincent was born in.

"Are you ready for a second round?" Vincent asked, looking over at Sebastian.

Sebastian looked like he could pass out at any possible moment, his skin was rather pale from the sudden blood loss that came from having his legs pierced so close to the major blood vessels of his legs. Vincent could already see the parts of him that were starting to bruise up in shades of purple and yellow. The bruises would be obvious in their cause. Lines of fading purple, green, and yellow would line up in row up and down Sebastian's thighs, just a little stronger in the tiny dots where the thin needles pierced through them. Anyone could have guess that these were caused by needles, and that the needles were arranged in an 'artistic' decoration, and meant to cause pain rather than direct harm. The only question would be if it was selfinflicted or not.

"Yep," Sebastian said. He set his drink on the nightstand so they wouldn't knock the glass all over and Sebastian wouldn't end up having to clean up broken glass the next morning. When Sebastian's back was turned, Vincent picked up a riding crop and smacked on top of his thighs with it. Sebastian let out a hiss as Vincent laughed at his obvious pain. Of all the places he could have smacked, Vincent hit the place that was the most sore, and at full force. Typical Vincent behavior, and it was typical of Sebastian to enjoy it, and even find it endearing. Oh, how sickening.

"You're still relaxed." Vincent said as he shoved two fingers into Sebastian's ass, which was not as difficult as it sounded. Really, he was flexible, it wasn't that difficult at all to slip anything inside of him, it made everything so much easier. Sebastian still gasped from the sudden contact and looked up at Vincent hovering him with a pout on his face.

"Don't give me that, it's a skill of yours," Vincent said.

"I'm still not that lubed up."

"You're fine, if you weren't, then I wouldn't be able to do this," Vincent said. He inserted his wriggling tentacle into Sebastian's bum. It was difficult he first time, but Sebastian had grown accustomed to the lovecraftian appendage invading his nether regions, to the point where Vincent could easily slide the entire twelve inches into him in a single, smooth motion. Vincent had to admit that he was remarkably flexible to be able to do this, especially without being harmed. If anything else at all, Sebastian seemed to enjoy being filled to his limits.

"Ow," Sebastian said. "Think you could be a little more careful with that?" He complained, but he was enjoying it.

"This is me being careful." Vincent said, wriggling himself deeper.

He held Sebastian by his shoulders and ground his sore back into the mattress. He could have been more careful but if he was then Sebastian wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much as he currently was. After all, it pays off to be both a masochist and have Vincent Phantomhive as your boyfriend. Sebastian, as much as he moved around and dug his black painted fingernails into Vincent's wrists, he was really enjoying this. It was amusing for Vincent to see a man complain about something so much, and yet still manage to be thrown into the realm of ecstasy by it. Of course, Diderich was never such a kind lover, and in fact, Sebastian was the warmest lover he has ever had. Much kinder than Rachel, who made it no secret that she hated him; Sebastian made it no secret at all to the fact hat he was so desperately in love with Vincent. It was a sweet gesture, really. Nobody else had ever really taken the time to so open with him and as such, Vincent cherished it. There really was no competition to be found within the depths of his heart, for he loved Sebastian back with the same unquestioning loyalty. Granted that Vincent had much less to question than Sebastian did, but it was about the gesture.

"That's so deep," Sebastian panted out.

"Well obviously, Sebastian. It has to go _somewhere_. You're so thin I can actually see myself moving in you," Vincent told Sebastian.

"What?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow. That was just not a thing that should be considered physically possible to actually happen. Sebastian was aware that his physique often crossed the line between being feminine and pear shape to just plain sad, but the sort of stick thin transparency of his abdominal cavity was going to new levels of ridiculousness.

"Seriously. I can see your stomach move," Vincent assured him, and he pointed down at Sebastian's stomach.

"That is disturbing," Sebastian said as he looked down at his lower abdomen. Indeed, he could see his stomach bulge from Vincent being inside him. He could even see him moving around, the bulge changed shape and position. Sebastian knew that he was thin, but he was not aware that the consequences of that would be during sex. He wondered if anyone else had this happen to them, or if that was just the consequence of having sex with someone the length of his forearm.

"Don't you dare bring up alien," Vincent said. Sebastian laughed, because he was just about to mention the movie Alien too.

"Well sorry, but this looks like something that should be killing me instead of feeling great." Sebastian said. He poked his belly with his finger tip and yep, that was definitely not how his stomach normally felt. Sebastian wondered just where the rest of his digestive viscera was sitting, since clearly Vincent's tentacock was taking up more space inside of his abdominal cavity than Sebastian's own organs were.

"You know, I'm not sure how this isn't hurting you," Vincent said. Sebastian was clearly blessed by some kind of strange deity who made him pretty gifted in bed for someone who was convinced that celibacy was the way to go.

"Let's just say I was blessed by god," Sebastian joked.

"More like Satan."

Vincent laid down next to Sebastian, who was tired out after being used in a science experiment to see how close they could get to replicating a movie with the art direction of HR Giger. Vincent picked up the stuff they had used earlier and cleaned it off. Here was some blood here and there but he managed to make sure that his bedroom no longer looked like what could have been a murder crime scene. Sebastian had barely been laying down for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep, but Vincent still had to clean up so he lifted a very drowsy Sebastian with one arm as he replaced the bloody sheets with his other.

Vincent was like a demonic cleaning wizard, really. Sebastian was laying there undisturbed, probably dreaming about something perverse. Vincent wondered if all people with his obscene levels of sexual frustration always had such vivid, lude dreams. Most of his dieas when he got creative were just taken from Sebastian's dreams, and Sebastian never seemed to remember his own dreams so Vincent got a pass on it. It was one of his many weird quirks which he had developed. He did not have the ability to dream on his own, but he could intrude like a voyeur on the dream's of the resting souls. Even when Ciel was a child, he had dreams thought upon further investigation had it, he no longer had them or any other signs of being the person he used to be.

"How do I look?" Diderich asked Ciel.

"Perfect," Ciel replied. He held up his lace gloved hand to his mouth as he cackled.

Ciel had 'borrowed' one of his father's suits, and Diderich, being the demon that he is, managed to shift his form in order to look like Vincent. Once he was in Vincent's clothing, there was no telling them apart. Diderich had known Vincent for so long that he could act in-character without flaw. He could fake Vincent's accent without disrupt, even mimic the emotional inflections in his voice that Diderich would not have. There really wouldn't be any way to tell them from another if they were standing side-by-side, though in that case, the real Vincent would have throttled him without question. Ciel himself probably could have not told he difference if he did not make up this plan himself. Sebastian, that poor, stupid, bastard wouldn't be able to tell. There was now the problem of getting Vincent of the way so that he would not be around to throttle them.

Diderich and Ciel's devious plot was going exactly how they planned it to, for they were both master craftsmen in the field of games. All three of them were more or less extraordinary gifted in the field of manipulating others, mind tricks, and other assorted bits of demonic awfulness. Of course, Vincent was hardly up to taking on both of his proteges on fell swoop. On their own they were practically useless against Vincent's craft nature. Ciel by himself was hardly effective at bothering Vincent. Diderich was a scant bit better in that he managed to really anger Vincent, but together? Oh the evil things Ciel and Diderich could do when they were teamed up. It was a heartwarming lesson in team work and exemplifying each other's best qualities.

_'Left to a business meeting this morning. -Vincent'_ Vincent scribbled quickly on a piece of his personal stationary with a black fountain pen and left it on the bedside next to Sebastian. He hated to just leave him there, but Sebastian was nice. He wouldn't mind if Vincent wasn't there when he woke up.

* * *

I found out that the only kink the Kuroshitsuji fandom is absolutely not okay with is xenosex. Like, it's all fun and rape until someone's throbbing black tentacle comes out and then it's like,_"No Vi, this isn't Homestuck, you can't do that here."_


	13. don't trust me

_You there on the bridge, where have you been? What's your name?  
__And you there on the wall, where will you go to once you fall?  
__You lost at sea, do you need me, do need directions?  
__Hey, put down the gun. What are you thinking? You were someone's son.  
__Oh, if only I could have been there, I'd be a hand for the sinking.  
__If only I could have been there, I'd be a prayer for the dying.  
__See the pain etched in my face...oh, I'm so sick and tried of  
__The taste of tears, the sting of pain  
__The smell of fear, the sounds of crying  
__Now, as you stand around the edge of your life,  
__what do you remember, was it all you wanted?_

_I'm trying to earn a set of feathery wings  
__I wish I could protect you here  
__Oh please don't cry now, smile  
__As you stand around the edge of your life  
__You're troubles are over, mine are just beginning  
__I'm trying earn a set of feathery wings to take me away from here_

_It's me you leave...  
__You're gone from here,  
__Don't leave from here,  
__Don't leave me here,  
__I hate it here,  
__You're gone from here,  
__Don't leave me here,  
__I need you here,  
__I need to see you smile.  
-Voltaire, "Feathery Wings"_

Sebastian awoke to Vincent with an arm wrapped around his waist. He smiled even though Vincent was asleep and got out of bed. It was a good morning to follow up a good night, and he was happy. Sebastian was happy because he had someone who really loved him. He loved Vincent despite his..._unusual_ characteristics and Vincent doted on Sebastian like his most treasured possession. Sebastian had friends who cared about him, and a place to live. He had never felt this welcomed and loved since the time before his parents disowned him. He almost forgot about them, forgot the scorn and humiliation, and focused solely on the new, good life that he had with Vincent. He saw the bruises on his legs to be a sign that he was loved, and the man that loved him also accepted that he liked to be bruised without questioning it.

"Good morning, love" Vincent said, he steps by Sebastian and plants a kiss lightly on his cheek. "I have something to tell you."

"Please do."

"I want to take you and Ciel out on a trip. Because I love you and we've been together for a long time, and I wanted to take you to my spare house up in the mountains." Vincent said all this, emphasizing just how much he truly loved Sebastian, and how badly he wanted to take him some place private, some place where they could be alone, some place romantic.

"Thank you, you know I'll follow you wherever you ask." Sebastian hugged Vincent and kissed him on the neck. He was so happy with their relationship and how close they had become. Sebastian was excited to see that Vincent took their relationship seriously, and that they were close. Sebastian could think of them visiting the summer house every summer from now on. They could sit and look at the stars without the city lights, and see the dusky colors of the milky way and watch everything fly by. Every summer, Sebastian thinks, he knows there will be many after his, and he'll spend every one of them with Vincent.

Vincent was out that morning but Sebastian didn't know it. Sebastian, Vincent, and Ciel climbed into his shiny, black luxury car and pulled out of the parking garage. Ciel was quiet in a way that was out of character for his normal behavior and today he wasn't dressed so terribly. He silently listened to music with oversized steam punk decorated headphones that had gears glued haphazardly to it. Ciel didn't even complain when Sebastian asked him to help put things in the trunk of the car. He wondered if Ciel had a prescription for lithium, and figured that maybe he actually fucking took it today. The traffic leaving new york city was absolute hell, and it had been so long since Sebastian leaved the city that he forgot what it looked like from miles away. It stood out like a wall of gray against the blue sky, like an oppressive wall of steel and millions of people. It was an island against the land around it, a clustered grayed out splotch on the southern tip of New York. It felt so strange to know that in that small line of skyscrapers at the vanishing point contained millions of people at any time at all.

The drive upstate was kind of thrilling, and Vincent laughed when Sebastian acted like a child who had never seen the woods before in his life. Everything was green and positively covered with trees. Trees on all sides, trees blocking out the horizon in front of them. So many trees you couldn't see ten feet through the woods. There was more tress than people, more flowers than concrete, and there was more green, blues, purples and red than there was gray. It was so colorful, but it was so empty. Even on the high way, everything had this eery silence and solitude of it. Sebastian could look over a clearing and see the blue mountains of Vermont in the distance. He did not see rows of streets or skyscrapers blocking his view. He did not see sidewalks, bike ways, or overpasses. Was he in a foreign country? No he was upstate new york, but compared to the city, it may very well have been a foreign country.

They passed a few cities, though none of them were like the city that Sebastian was used to. They got off the north way at a small town called Saratoga, and they drove past the small casino, the Victorian buildings painted in all colors, the art galleries, and the horse races that were filled to the brim with tourists. It was mostly restaurants and bars and narrow streets and people walking around having fun and laughing. It was so far away from home, and still hundreds of people lived here, as if it was normal, living their normal lives. Sebastian had a hard time relating to how any of them. He saw so many people that if felt like they were all ants in a colony, worming their way through the sand, all nearly identical, and none of them particularly special.

Vincent drove past Saratoga, and into Lake George, as they headed north and closer to the mountains. In Saratoga, the mountains started at the fault line that divided the city in half, as they drove down route nine and north, the fault line because taller until it towered everything and as the car reached the top of a small hill, Sebastian could see through the trees through South Glens Falls, Glens Falls, through to Lake George; all the way to the the tallest of the gently sloping Adirondacks. On a clear day like this, anyone could point out the tops of each mountain individually. They could even see the ski slopes carved out of Gore mountain. Lake George was settled in the valley created by the fault line of Saratoga dividing the earth into two twin peaks on either side, the valley filled with water over thousands of years as the glaciers melted.

On this water, wars were waged and the bottom of the lake was littered with the unmarked graves of thousands humans who lived there and died. Thousands, of people who were memoryless, people who battled natives and died in the french warships of the wars, people who nobody could recall. Skulls embedded into the mud, long embedded down in the dirt at the bottom of the lake. People on their motor boats zoomed on the surfaced of the lake over the graves of the people they would never now were there. Unknowing and uncaring about those before them, if one of them fell out of their boats and drowned, they would have been forgotten like a single dying cell in a bacterial colony.

Further north, they passed lakes. Oh, how the Adirondacks had lakes! At every possible turn there was a new lake. Scroon Lake, Long Lake, Lake Desolation, Tupper Lake, Racquet Lake, Indian Lake... not to mention First Lake all the way to the Eighth Lake, and even then private and unnamed lakes dotted the region here and there. Each of those lakes probably had the corpses of lumberjacks, or careless children or unlucky ice fishers down at the bottoms. Out here in the mountains, where you could go miles on miles without seeing another human beings, nobody will hear you scream. If you cut your leg off in the woods, you bleed to death. If you murder someone, they'll never be found. In the city, it is so hard to get away with anything, but the feral nature of the wilderness leads to a certain amount of discomfort if you can notice how fucked you could be if your plans went south in the great northern mountains.

They are beautiful, but they are empty. They do not have sidewalks or cell towers, or large crowds of people living their lives. They are teeming with life but the uncounted, innumerable deaths make it so that you can never truly be alone. When you step foot in the mountains, you can not see the miles of dirt covering the death below you but you can feel it. The eery energy of death pervades the entire area, from when so many hikers go missing that summer. When the bodies are discovered, they always say that it was due to exposure, an attack from a bear or wolf, or a mountain lion; but there are darker being in the mountains. Ones that you can't see watching you from across the lake. Ones that hide in the trees tops obscured by the thick foliage. Ones that are stronger than a bear, ones that are smarter than a human. The ones that will damn sure make it that nobody finds you, and nobody is dumb enough to go looking, unless they'd like to end up missing as well.

"Sebastian. Sebastian. Wake up." Vincent poked and prodded at him. Sebastian yawned and looked at him with a groggy expression on his face.

"We're here, sleepy," Vincent gently reminded him.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, you'll need all that napping to stay up late again, right?" Vincent winked at Sebastian, who found himself blushing like the queer-baiting protagonist of a lame one-shot yaoi manga.

Ciel excused himself from the scene immediately, and headed up to the house. Sebastian had gone a whole six hours being confined in a small space with Ciel without Ciel acting up. Someone must have slipped lithium in his tea this morning, because this was just not how Ciel acted. Vincent's summer 'cabin' was a large wood exterior house that sat on the edge of ones of the more remote areas of lake placid. The back end of the house was a glass wall overlooking a 40 foot drop off where the lake was, and a long winding stair case led from the back end of the house down the drop off and to the surface to the lake where the dock was. Just looking out the back window of the house, Sebastian could see across the lake Placid and up into the purple mountains overlooking the lake. The house itself had three floors; the first floor was comprised of the kitchen, the glass walled sitting room, and a small guest bedroom. The second floor was Ciel's room which was locked up and one could only pass through the stair case as they walked up.

The third floor was Vincent's bedroom, which like the first floor, had a wall of glass facing the lake and glass ceiling where you could look up into the night sky. It was clear that even though Vincent's home in new york city had a fine vintage appeal with dark, jewel toned colors of reds, blues and emeralds; his house on the lake was modern in it's elegance. The glass walls with thin, black borders with plush white rugs and simplistic furniture in black leather was a modern rethinking of the classic adirondack 'cabin'. For most cabins were hardly three floors high, or featured such a flawless blend of simplistic, classic furniture with minimalist lines and the open air feel of looking in any direction and seeing nature around.

His home in the city was a shut-up palace never to be seen by the outside world of city goers bustling around it at all hours. The cabin here was almost exclusively exposed to the world around it; for nobody was here but the two of them. The only things living here were the flowers in the dirt, the fish in the lake and various other flora and fauna that comprised the area. There was no city, there was no city for miles and miles in either direction. Anyone Sebastian cared about was six hours away and could not possibly know where he was, much less actually find him here. They stood there in solitude, knowing that there was not a single soul for miles that could intrude upon their venture. No cell phone reception for a call of urgency to make it's noises. There was no land line or internet connected to the building, either. Nothing but him, Vincent, and the view of the sun setting on lake placid. It was a beautiful afternoon with the man that he loved.

"Do you want to go out on the lake to watch the stars?" Vincent asked.

Like he even had to ask, because Sebastian would fall ass over stupid for any romantic gesture offered to him. There wasn't a need to ask twice. Vincent picked up two stem glasses, a bottle of wine, and he and Sebastian retreated down the staircase and to the docks where Vincent's boat was sitting. The boat was a large party boat with fine furnishings. It looked well maintained for being docked permanently in a place where people rarely visited. Vincent untied the boat from the dock and set the items inside of the boat. Sebastian had not been on a party boat before. Like an idiot, he nearly slipped on the steps but Vincent caught him before he smacked his head on the side of the boat.

True to it's name, lake placid was dark and quiet, the boat barely moved back and forth when it was anchored. The sky was dark and the moon shone over head of them as they sipped champagne under the milky way. Vincent was acting oddly quiet but Sebastian hardly noticed it. He was too busy gawking at how beautiful and stoic he looked, staring intently at the navy blue sky dotted with stars so far away, they had already died before they could be seen from earth. Sebastian drank in silence with Vincent, and there was something this night that didn't seen as romantic as it could have. Usually Vincent had stopped his drinking with banter or gestures of physical kindness before he got tipsy.

"I suppose we start the game," Vincent said, pulling out a pistol. He opened up the empty chamber and slipped a single bullet into the gun before locking it back up and spinning the chamber thing around. The spot of the bullet was random.

"This sounds like fun," Sebastian said.

"You really do trust me, don't you?" Vincent asked. Oh, he didn't have to, Sebastian's disposition gave away the answer. He looked outright chipper, that idiot.

"Well, on the count of three..." Vincent said. He lifted the gun in his bony, white hand and pointed it directly at Sebastian's head. The barrel of the gun lined up with his forehead, as he sat across he boat from Vincent.

"One, two, three." Vincent counted off and a bang rang out. Sebastian jumped up quickly, flinching out of fear as the gun off. He was shaking, even if he thought it was fake, he was still scared by it. Clearly, he got off on near death experiences.

"One, two, three." He said again, the gun let out a bang as another blank was let out. Sebastian jumped again. Vincent let out a cackle and he could tell, that this wasn't what Sebastian expected.

"One, two, three." Sebastian was actually started to become afraid of him. Vincent's act was slipping, he didn't care that Sebastian was scared. He found his torment funny.

"One, two, three." Now Sebastian was looking at Vincent like he had been replaced with an eighteen headed hydra and all the heads wanted to tear him into bits, which wouldn't even begin to make him the most exotic demon out there. He would have caught onto the idea, if he wasn't foggy headed from the alcohol. Sebastian's mind raced back and forth between it's conspiracies but it could piece the pieces of it together, and so, he still sat there across from Vincent.

"One, two, three." The gun sounded off another again. "Have you been keeping count for me, Sebastian?" Vincent asked.

"Yes." Sebastian swallowed and nodded slowly. Vincent smiled back at him. He had big brown eyes and the sort if naive cuteness that you could easily assign to a kitten. He stared up at him with that pathetic disposition, and Diderich was filled with nothing but contempt. He felt no sorrow, no pity. Because he believed him to be Vincent, Sebastian trusted him completely.

"One, two, three."

Bang.

* * *

Vincent was back at his home in new york city. It felt strangely empty, for nobody was here with him. He should have been used to this, after all he had spend so many decades before here by himself, and it had not felt empathy then. It felt like a spacious domain which he could control, it felt small and constrictive, lodged a few blocks from central park. Now it felt cold and empty with his vintage furniture reminding him from when he came. Not even Ciel cares to come around here anymore. His room is covered with dust, his possessions haven't been touched in far too long, and he is somewhere where Vincent's control can't reach him. The screams of the boy upstairs had ended awhile ago, he probably died up there or managed to escape. Vincent was fooling himself here, nobody escapes the Phantomhives.

In his hand, he holds another soul that shimmers in an amber glass vial. Vincent looks down at the vial and he smiles, he can't wait to see what this one will become.

* * *

Thank you for reading. Hope you've enjoyed this. You just can't have one of my fanfics without Sebastian being tormented. Subscribe to me if you liked this story because there will be more fics to come from me, after all I've been writing Kuro for a long time and I see no reason to stop. :) I hope that you find my future fics even more enjoyable than this one. -Vi.


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